How It Fits Back Together
by e472318
Summary: Sequel to Our Separate Ways. AU of the 2010 timeline. Mainly deals with character relationships and interactions immediately following the events of the first story, with some action thrown in. Some general spoilers from the whole series. A few very mildly described sexual situations, but nothing graphic.
1. Getting Reacquainted

**Author's Note:**

 **This sequel to Our Separate Ways is mainly to hash out some of the relationships developed in the first story, though I tried to work some action in there, too. But, the character relationships and interactions are really the main plot, which is why this didn't seem to fit into the first story, where liberating the Earth was the main plot. Anyway, reviews are welcome, and I hope you enjoy.**

 **...**

 **January 4, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Janet slowly awakened to her internal alarm clock, and she suddenly realized that she wasn't lying on a pillow, or even a bed for that matter. She had her arms wrapped around the midsection of what seemed to be a man, with her head on his chest and his arm holding her against him. It had been a long time since she'd been in that situation, so she was startled a bit, but then she smelled the man and instantly relaxed, all the while keeping her eyes closed.

 _Jack. Wasn't Cassie here? Did the brat leave me like this? I'll admit this is wonderful, but it's also dangerous. Sam is divorced now. I need to know how he feels about that before I get swept away in this._

She finally opened her eyes and looked up to see Jack with a soft smile on his face.

"Good morning. Comfortable?" he asked her quietly.

She blushed slightly at the intimate sound of his deep, sleepy voice, as well as her position on top of him.

 _Don't kiss him! Don't do it!_

"Just fine, Jack. You?" she shot back with a smirk on her face.

He chuckled. "We should probably get up. You have to head in soon, and I think I'll make an appearance, so that everyone doesn't show up here to bother me on my time off."

Jen, Vala, and Cassie were all watching from the kitchen but scattered when they started to get up off of the couch.

"Want some coffee, you two?" Cassie asked with a shit-eating grin that earned her a glare from her mother as Janet took the mug from the smug teenager.

"Sure, thanks, princess." Jack gratefully accepted the other mug.

...

Cassie went home to get ready for school, and everyone else got in Jack's truck and headed to the mountain. As Jack entered, he was pondering his morning so far.

 _All of the years I've known her, I had never had the chance to watch her sleep before. The spitfire she is when awake was gone. She looked peaceful, beautiful._

When she gave him that big smile in the gate room yesterday, he'd been surprised at the clenching he felt in his gut. And now, waking up to her like this, he found he could really get used to it. He'd missed her a great deal when he was traipsing around the universe, trying save Earth, and then the Asgard. She had been his lifeline over the past few years. He would probably be dead of alcohol poisoning, or any number of things, if not for her. This brought him to another thought.

 _I have to nip this in the bud right now. Her friendship means too much to me to screw it up with these kinds of feelings. I have no reason to believe she would be any more interested in a washed up, bitter, old man than Carter was, and I won't offend her by making the offer._

Jack made his way to the SG-1 locker room and found his locker was still there. Knowing it could be awkward if any of the others came in, Jack set about getting changed as quickly as he could. He took off his civvies and pulled on his BDU pants. He was doing the belt on them, when, of course, Carter would walk in.

Sam entered the locker room and saw the General standing there shirtless. Her jaw dropped a bit as she stared at the taut, scarred body of a warrior. Then she snapped out of it.

"Sorry, sir. I'll just…"

"It's ok, Carter. My locker is still in here for some reason. I'll be out of your hair in a second." He'd already pulled on a t-shirt and was putting on his boots as he talked.

He threw on his BDU jacket and said, "There you go. All yours, Colonel." Then he walked out of the room, leaving Sam sporting a regretful expression.

Throughout the morning, Jack made his rounds, greeting everyone as he went. He ran into SG-24 on their way to the gate room.

"Jenkins."

"Sir, it's good to see you again."

"You too, Major. How's old Colonel Wagner been doing?"

"As surly as always, but I'm sure you know that, sir."

"Yeah, I do. You know, kid. I've seen a lot of things in my day, but I never thought I'd see an SG team of Army Rangers. Good luck out there."

"Thank you, sir."

 _Sir this and sir that. God, I'm sick of this place already._

Jack made his way to Dixon's office and knocked.

"Come in."

"Dave, how you holdin' up back here?"

"Sir…"

"Dave, do me a favor, cut the 'sir' in private, would you?"

"Ok, Jack. It'll be hard though. You're big time brass now."

"Don't remind me. So really, how is running the show treating you?"

"It's got its moments, but I miss the field. And this is a lot to take in. I don't know how Hammond did it."

"I believe you. I wanted to tell you that I'll fight for you if you want to keep the chair, but I think Hayes already has mind made up that he wants me in it. He said this facility should be headed by higher than a Colonel, and you don't have enough time in yet for a star."

"He's mentioned that to me too, Jack, and I pretty much expected all along that you would come back and rescue me from the job."

Jack snorted. "That bad, huh? I can't wait to get started. So, what do you want to do, go back to SG-13?"

"I think so. They've had two new COs so far, one killed, one is injured right now, so it shouldn't break up any chemistry."

"Good. Well, I'll still have you as second of the base, so you don't think you are escaping all of this paperwork."

"That's the good news I've been waiting to hear."

Jack laughed. "Go get some lunch, Dave. I can handle the red phone while you're gone."

"I thought you'd never offer. I'll be back soon, Jack. Thanks."

Jack leaned back for a moment, and then he winced as he noticed Daniel catch sight of him from the briefing room. He soon heard the inevitable knock.

"Come!"

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"You chase Dixon out of here already?"

"He's getting some lunch. I'm just making sure his paperwork doesn't run away."

Daniel smiled a little. It sounded like the old Jack, and he had heard the rumblings that Jack was in top form today.

"Jack, listen, I know you don't want to talk about, well, anything really, but I need you to let me say this. I want you to know how sorry I am about getting so caught up in the whole Aschen alliance. I should have listened more closely to your opinions, and I deeply regret it."

Jack sighed. He really didn't want to do this, but he was tempted to talk it out.

 _Must be having a good day. Waking up with a beautiful doctor on top of you will do that._

"Look, Daniel, I won't deny that I was hurt by it, but you were just doing what you always do. You never trusted my judgment with regards to relations with other races. You always get carried away in that kind of thing. You were a constant pain in my ass, and many times, that's what I needed from you. And when you couldn't sway me to your way of thinking, I had Carter and Teal'c to help keep you in line. When I didn't have them either, you went off the deep end. As much as I wanted and needed you to believe me this one time, I never expected you to. It wouldn't have been you."

"What are you saying, Jack?"

"I'm saying that what makes you such a great asset is the same reason I knew you would never believe me. Carter and Teal'c, it's a different story. They had other jobs than to question my judgment. In fact, the reason we worked as a team was that they respected it. When they stopped respecting it, there was no one left to stop you. Questioning my judgment was your job, and I can't hold it against you forever."

"Wow. You really are in a good mood today."

"Thanks, Daniel," he growled.

"No, I appreciate it, really. And I still feel terrible about the whole thing and probably always will. Thanks, Jack."

"No problem, Daniel. Now go before someone overhears our little heart-to-heart."

Daniel chuckled. "Fine, I'll see you tonight."

...

When Dixon returned, Jack wandered down to Hailey's lab for a bit while Daniel headed to get a cup of coffee in the commissary. On his way there, he ran into Janet.

"Hey, Janet."

"Hi, Daniel, what's up?"

"Have you talked to Jack yet today?"

 _You mean other than pillow talk on his chest this morning? Stop it!_

"No, not yet, why?"

"He's apparently in a really good mood. I think we're even friends again."

"What? Wow. Well, that's great news."

 _Why? Is it Sam? Did she finally make a move?_

"Yeah, it is. Although, not so much for Sam and Teal'c. He still got issues with them, big ones."

She released a breath she didn't know she was holding before responding.

"Oh. Well, at least you got back into his good graces."

"Yeah. Well, I'll see you later Janet."

"Take care, Daniel."

...

Jack, meanwhile, continued to meander through the complex. He stopped by the gym to see Wilkins sparring with Major Griff, giving him a few cheap shots, and he just laughed to himself _._

He started whistling as he walked down the hallway that leads to the infirmary. He walked in and went to the open doorway to Janet's office. He stood there watching as she was filling out some form at her desk, her back to the door.

"I know you're there, Jack. I heard you whistling."

"Well, far be it from me to come between you and your ever important paperwork."

 _He really is in a good mood. I haven't seen him like this since before the Aschen._

"There, it's done. Now, what can I do you for you?"

"I'm just killing time now. I've made my rounds, but I can't leave since it seems I'm your ride, along with Hailey and Vala."

"Ah, ok. I ran into Daniel earlier. He said you and him had a chat."

"Oh? Yeah, I think we pretty much smoothed things over. I just told him that on our team his job was to question my judgment, while the others were supposed to respect it, which kept him in line if I disagreed with him. When the others didn't respect it, there was no one to stop him from getting carried away, and I couldn't hold that against him forever."

"That's very astute, and also very forgiving of you."

"Yes, well, what can I say? It's a good day." He gave her a heart stopping grin that had the butterflies in her gut going crazy.

"So it seems," she replied and grinned brilliantly back at him.

"Ok, Jack, I have work to do. If you need to kill more time, you can always have your physical."

She laughed at the look of horror on his face.

 _If he only knew what I meant. I don't think I could get him near an infirmary bed right now without throwing him down on it and taking him._

"No, Janet, that's ok. I'll leave you to it then."

"I'll find you when I'm ready to leave."

...

It was finally close to quitting time, so Jack started off to round up his passengers when SG-24 returned early from their mission. No one was seriously injured, but he knew it was going to hold Janet up a little bit. He decided to go get Hailey first. He was whistling again as he headed down the corridor to her lab, which was incidentally right next door to Carter's lab. He walked in to see Carter already in Hailey's lab, and they seemed to be arguing about some sort of calculation. He walked in and stopped whistling.

Jen saw him and apparently noticed his good mood. She gave him a bright smile and then returned her glare to Carter.

"Colonel, Captain, problem?"

"No, sir. I'm just trying to get the _Captain_ here to see the importance of not making so many assumptions about pre-existing conditions before running her experiments."

"And sir, I'm trying to reassure the _Colonel_ that they are safe assumptions, and the data will be much more useful to us if they are factored into the calculations."

"Ok. Colonel, is there is a reason to believe that data factoring in Captain Hailey's assumptions would be useful?"

"Possibly, sir. But, it may also be a waste of time, or even throw us off track altogether."

"Captain? What makes you think they are 'safe assumptions' if Colonel Carter doesn't think so?"

"Prior experience, sir. And I know they are safe assumptions."

"What is the experiment?"

Sam looked at him incredulously, as if to ask if he really wanted to know, but Jen appeared unfazed by the question.

"We are studying the Aschen dampening field technology, trying to find ways to duplicate it and adapt it for our own uses," Hailey answered him.

"Right. Well, Colonel, you are a good enough officer to accept feedback from subordinates and know whether or not their input is helpful. Keep in mind that your knowledge of Captain Hailey's experience probably isn't as extensive as you think it is, especially when it comes to Aschen technology.

Captain, you understand the need to follow the orders of your superiors, whether or not you think they are right. You can always run the experiment with your own prejudices, on your own time, and then try to convince people of the value after the fact."

They both looked befuddled and a bit impressed.

"Oh, and Colonel? She's probably right. Are we on the same page now, campers? Good. Now, play with this another time. It's time to close up shop for the day. Jen, when you're ready, I'll be out and about around here somewhere."

 **…**

They had two large tables at O'Malley's to accommodate Jack, SG-1, SG-2, Janet, and Cassie. The conversation was easy enough, except for Sam, Teal'c, and Mitchell. Mitchell because he didn't really know any of the others very well, except his teammates, and Sam and Teal'c because Jack acted like he didn't really know them very well. Jack was including Daniel in the conversation though, caused Sam to give him a questioning glance.

Janet was being extra observant tonight, trying to see where Jack's mind was regarding Sam. She noticed he was looking at her with a blankness to his eyes. She didn't see the pain there that she used to. He looked at her the same way he looked at Mitchell, and he had just met Cam yesterday. She'd noticed him looking at herself a few times too, and the stare unnerved and excited her. It wasn't the same look he used to give Sam, but it was something.

"Well, folks, it seems like this is as good a time as any. As some of you might have guessed, when my leave is up I will be taking command of the base. Dixon is going back to SG-13, and will be my second in command. I'll miss being out in the field, but I'm getting too old for all of that anyway."

"Yeah right, Jack. I'll give you a week of sitting behind a desk before you get back out there and do something dumb," Ferretti offered his support.

"It will be good to once again serve with you, O'Neill," Teal'c added. Jack barely acknowledged him.

"Congratulations, sir. It's quite an honor," Sam chimed in.

"Yes, well, someone's got to do it, and apparently I'm the only one qualified, according to the president."

...

Sam just sat there deep in thought. She was working hard to ignore the pang in her chest from watching Jack interact so easily with SG-2 and Janet. And then she considered his announcement.

 _He'll be my commanding officer again. Now, I only need those two words when I need to get my priorities straight._

After that, they all started drinking and relaxing. Sam was cleaning up at the pool table, until Wilkins went over and beat her in a game. She then beat him three straight times. He came back to the table grumbling.

"That God damn broad is a shark."

Jack laughed at his friend. "Yeah, I should have warned you. I'll also warn you not to call her a broad if you don't want her to kick your ass. It's a good thing you fight dirty, you would need it."

Sam overheard their exchange, and a little smile came to her face.

Since they had all voiced their curiosity about his classified adventures, they decided to leave a little early to head back to Jack's house.


	2. The Whole Story

**January 4, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

They had all been drinking fairly heavily at O'Malley's, except for Cassie. She had to leave to go meet a friend briefly, and she couldn't drive all of them anyway, so they decided to hide somewhere outside and have Thor beam them all to Jack's house. Jack was particularly inebriated, and the good mood he was in earlier turned him into a happy and talkative drunk, for once. For that reason, they took it back to his place to try and get the whole story on him saving the world.

"Ok, fine. The first thing I did, the day after they opened the Space Terminal, was gate to Chulak. Then, from there, I went to a trading post that I remembered SG-3 had been to. I was looking for weapons and a ship.

When I got there, Vala tried to rob me, but I stopped her. Then the next day, she saved me from a couple of Jaffa, and she convinced me to let her travel with me. I made a deal for some zats, and then we made plans to get some refined naquadah to trade for a ship. We went to Qetesh's old home world to get the naquadah, I got captured by Ba'al, we made our escape, and instead of trading for a ship, we grabbed one from good old Ba'al."

"Wait, Jack. Ba'al? What was that like?"

"What do you think, Daniel?" Vala saw the misery flash in Jack's eyes and spoke up. "He was tortured and killed with knives and acid, and then revived in a sarcophagus, over and over again for eight straight days."

All of SG-1 looked sick for a moment.

"Wait, does that mean you have weapons grade naquadah? I mean, since you ended up taking a ship from Ba'al instead of trading for one? How much do you have?" Sam asked excitedly.

"I don't know, three blocks, about the size of baseballs. Yeah, I should still have them. I'll turn them over when I remember to do it."

"Sir! One of those is about a hundred times as much refined naquadah as we have ever had. That's huge."

"Well, maybe they'll reimburse me for it then. Or Vala actually. She's the one who grabbed them while I was busy being Ba'al's dartboard," he grumbled.

"Anyway, I got back in rough shape, bad withdrawal and what have you. Janet fixed me up. I even had Thanksgiving dinner in a hospital bed. After that, I put the team together and we checked out the Confederation planets that the diplomatic teams never visited. On '271, we found a multiple story building with the top sticking above ground. We went down to investigate and found a whole city, about on par with 1950s North America, buried. We found a photo of some Aschen being chased by a mob with guns, but not much else. We went to '194 and found a steel structure sticking out of the ground, so we dug a little bit and found another buried city. We grabbed some newspapers that eventually told us about the vaccine. Then on our way out, we had to freeze because we saw Borren, Carter, Faxon, and another Aschen walking right toward us."

"You were there that day?"

"Yes. When the Aschen geek came back to check things out, I convinced him to get you guys to go ahead without him. Then I killed him, and we left."

"You what!?" Sam shrieked, but Jack's eyes were shuttered tight.

"No backup, no witnesses, Carter. If the Aschen would have known we were there, that bioweapon would have gone off so fast, you would have been dead before you knew what happened. After that, we went to '220 where we found a memorial, in an old French language, about people who died from a great plague. We were captured by some people who said they were warned by the Aschen that survivors of the plague would return to poison their minds. Anyway, Vala busted us out. I was able to translate the old French, and we headed home for a bit."

"You translated old French, Jack?"

"Yes, Daniel."

"How?"

"I speak French, Daniel, so I recognized some of it, and I got a book to help with the rest."

"Next, Jen got into the old mission reports and we found the survivors from '220, so after Cassie's sixteenth birthday party, we went there. After I nearly got eaten by some kind of animal, we found out that the Aschen attacked them with a bioweapon when they refused to accept Aschen medicine in the deal. After that, we headed back out to the last three planets. We didn't find much of anything until we got to the last planet, where we found out there was a seventeenth Confederation planet, and that they had stopped sending them crops a couple of months prior. So we headed over there and found a modern world, contemporary to Earth right now, with the streets lined with bodies. We went digging around, avoided the Aschen clean-up crew covering their tracks, and found some newspapers talking about declining population, Aschen betrayal, and so on. Then, we went to Cimmeria, where I asked Thor for help."

"Oh, so on my wedding day?" Sam asked regretfully.

"Business trip, probably knee deep in corpses, victims of Aschen genocide."

"That's what you needed the hazmat suits for," Janet realized.

"Yeah, Janet. I hope you were able to make do without them."

"It was fine, Jack. Don't worry about it."

"We came home the day after George was killed. My contact told me the government and the Aschen were in on it. I also found out the population growth numbers here. I had to get more info, so we decided to get into the Aschen core. Hailey wrote up some fancy code and rigged up a doohickey to transmit the signal. I got into Carter's lab, zatted her, and entered it into the computer."

"I knew it! You coded it into the core? You read Aschen? How did you get into my lab?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets."

"You transmitted a connection to the Aschen core?" she asked, turning to Jen.

"Yes. That's how we got the intel on their movements and the layout of the harvesters," Hailey replied.

"I told you not to underestimate her experience, Carter. She's good," Jack told Sam, while Jen beamed with pride.

"Next, a pain in the ass SF would have gotten himself killed if his buddy didn't show up to help escort me to the holding room in the science lab. Carter had a go at questioning me, Melon drugged me, and I was sent away to be a lab rat for a few months." The bitterness in his voice was clear. Janet looked heartbroken. Hailey glared at Carter.

"How did you escape the medical lab?" Daniel asked, apparently curious about how that went down.

Jack hesitated, so Wilkins stepped in.

"The guard that came in to hold him down for his shot that day got his throat slashed open, and then Jack chased down the doctor and held him in front of him as he made his way for the door, using him as a shield against the fire from the automated defenses."

They all looked aghast, except for Jack and SG-2.

"After that, when we got back, Thor finally showed up. He translated the newspapers from '194. He took us to find a headsucker. Then we got caught up with Cronus for a little while. We couldn't get through to Thor to beam us out, until Jen came up with a theory about energy from the planet blocking the signal."

"Actually, Jack, you gave me the idea."

"He usually does without even realizing it," Carter added wistfully.

"Well, I didn't realize much of anything at the time with my brain screwed up and Cronus having his way with me for days. Anyway, we finally found a headsucker, I stuck my head in, made the healing device, made a device to fight the Replicators, then stayed in stasis, for the most part, until I could be fixed. You pretty much know the rest."

"Wow." Daniel was still as stunned as he was the day of the liberation.

"I offer my sincerest apologies that I wasn't there to assist in this mission, O'Neill."

"Yes, well, sometimes we have better things to do, Teal'c."

Janet saw his earlier good mood was evaporating quickly, so she got up to get him another beer, came back, and sat down right next to him, invading his space, thighs touching, letting him know she was there. Sam widened her eyes a bit. Hailey and Vala smirked at her. Jack looked over at her, smiled, and took the offered beverage.

"Thanks."

Cassie came back, which also seemed to lighten Jack's mood again, and they all sat there as the group told Jack about some of the things that happened while he was gone. SG-1 took off around 1100, having Thor beam them to their homes. Everyone else stayed a little longer.

Janet was merrily tipsy, but she was still sharp enough to pay attention to what was happening. Noticing their interactions, the only emotion Jack showed with Sam all evening was bitterness about his capture and being experimented on. There was no sign of sadness, or any kind of positive feelings either. That was a relief, because she was having a harder and harder time keeping this to herself. She was not Sam, and when the time was right, she would make that known to Jack. She won't talk herself out of what she wants. She will go after it.

 _It seems Jack is going to be my commanding officer now, but I don't care. I'll resign. I don't need a rank to be the CMO._

She also knew how dangerous it would be to fall asleep in his arms again tonight with the alcohol involved. She was having a hard time keeping her hands to herself as it was. She leaned her head on his shoulder without even realizing, while all of these things ran through her head.

As everyone else was beamed away, Vala replaced Janet in the spot next to Jack on the couch.

"Jack, I think you should go for it. She wants you too, and cares a great deal for you," Vala told him.

Jack glared at her. "Good night, ladies."


	3. First Day

**January 17, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

It was General O'Neill's first day in charge of the SGC. After his return with Thor, he realized that he was left with quite a bit in his brain from the Ancient download. Among the leftovers was knowledge of where to find and how to use various pieces of Ancient technology. This led him to make a decision. After a very brief speech, he went on to lay out a new direction for the program.

"The mandate for this program has always been to locate technologies and weapons capable of defending Earth, and while we will continue that, we are going to focus our efforts on Ancient technologies. Everything will be business as usual, just that new recon missions will come from a new list of planets. Planets that we know were at one time inhabited by the Ancients. I'm here if anyone has questions. Thank you."

As Jack headed back to his office, he was cut off by Daniel.

"Jack."

"Daniel," Jack said as he kept walking.

"Jack!"

"Daniel!" He started walking faster.

"Jaaaack."

"Ok, what Daniel?" Jack stopped and turned around.

"Ancients inhabited all of these planets? Do you know how exciting this is?"

"Daniel, it was my call. Of course I know. I'll explain more in your briefing at 1100. Now can I go take a leak?"

"Fine, see you then."

After trying to make a dent in the massive pile of paperwork that appeared in his box, he looked up and saw SG-1 in the briefing room. He looked at his watch, 1100 on the dot, so he strolled in there.

"Ok, campers, let's talk about P5D-992."

"Actually, sir, I wanted to request that we return to P3C-128. Since we are going to be more focused on Ancient technologies, that planet did have Ancient writings on it, and I'm convinced there is a device there that is causing the changes in the planet's ionosphere."

"Colonel, that was your last mission, correct? Standard recon?"

"Yes, sir."

"The text didn't mention a device. What makes you think there is one there?"

She looked surprised that he knew all about the previous mission already.

 _It's his first day for cryin'… Stop!_

"The anomalies in the planet's ionosphere don't appear to be natural to me."

"Daniel, what do you think?"

"Well, Jack, she's the expert on this sort of thing. I read the same text you did. I have no idea."

"Teal'c, Mitchell, any objections?" They shook their heads in the negative.

"Risk assessment?"

"Minimal, sir. We saw no signs of habitation or recent visitors," Mitchell replied.

"Sir, if a device is causing this, it could be calibrated for military uses, such as disrupting communications, or even protecting us from energy weapons coming from orbit."

"Assuming futzing with the ionosphere is the device's purpose. So Carter, this is what, a gut feeling?"

She looked at his blank eyes, wondering what he was thinking. The last time he had a gut feeling she shot him down ruthlessly and spat in his face for years, while she ruined his life and her own. She knew that she would absolutely deserve for him to shoot her down right now.

"Ok, go eat lunch, get checked out, and gear up. You'll ship out at 1400. Dismissed."

Sam was shocked for a moment, and then left with the others.

 _He's a better person than you are. I wouldn't have gone with your gut there, and I am you._

 _..._

Jack went back to his office replaying their briefing. He quite enjoyed making Sam sweat a bit. Yeah, he knew he was a bastard. When it came to dealing with people, Sam had never been very worthy of his trust, and now he knew better than to ever give it to her again. But when it came to doohickeys and ionospheres and what not, he learned long ago to trust her gut.

He sat down just as the red phone rang.

"O'Neill."

"Jack."

"Mr. President, what can I do for you?"

"How's the first day back going for you?"

"Peachy, sir. I never knew just how much I loved paperwork until it was gone for four years."

Hayes laughed. "I'm sure. Listen, Jack, I wanted to tell you those two Aschen that are still on the loose, we might have located them."

"Oh?"

"In China."

"That's just great," Jack muttered.

"We are still trying to confirm their location and plans, but I'm just giving you a heads up in case a mission comes up soon."

"I appreciate it, sir."

"Get back to work, Jack. I'll talk to you soon."

"Yes, sir. O'Neill out."

Jack leaned back and scrubbed his hand over his face. He was not looking forward to that mission.

…

Jack worked his way back into the game, and things went fairly smoothly. The next day, he called in SG-2 for their next mission brief.

"Well, good morning, sirrrrrr," Vala purred at him.

Ferretti stood back and smirked. "At least you don't have to deal with her out there anymore, Jack, General, whatever."

"Yes, Lou. I only have to deal with her at home now."

"Hey!" Vala was affronted. Then in a seductive voice, "You know, you could always make that a much more enjoyable experience."

Hailey snorted at the briefing with their two-star CO. She hadn't officially been in the military as long as most people at the SGC, but knew enough to know that this was anything but typical.

Getting back to business, Jack told them about P9A-333 where the Aschen had made contact, but never had the chance to follow up. The mission was to nose around and make sure none of them stayed behind to cause problems.

"We're back to typical rules of engagement, Wilkins. Don't bring me back anyone's head."

"Hey, how am I supposed to have my fun? I don't have all of these ladies throwing themselves at me like you do."

Hailey giggled again.

"Something funny, Captain?" Jack shot her a half-hearted glare.

"No, sir." She gave him a big smile and winked at him.

"For cryin' out loud. Alright, gang, you ship out at 1300. Dismissed."

...

Jack sat there at the table after everyone left. The briefing managed to make him miss joining them in the field. He was pleased his team still gave him hell like they did before. The last thing he wanted to see was Ferretti, Wilkins, and Hailey being kiss-ass officers in his two-star presence.

 _My team? Well, that's what they are, I suppose. Or were. It's been a long time since SG-1 was my team. Now, I have no team. But if something critical comes up that I need done, I know which team I would entrust to get it done or back me up, and it's not SG-1._

Eventually, SG-2 returned with no news and no Aschen. SG-1 also came back, Carter with the device she thought she would find. It was a device Jack didn't know much about. Luckily, he knew how to turn it off, as it started screwing with wireless transmissions in the area surrounding the mountain. He left it with Carter for study, and moved on to the next team. Being the General really wasn't all it was cracked up to be.


	4. Healing

**February 8, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

SG-1 was in the infirmary finishing up their pre-mission checks before heading to P3X-439. The guys all went to gear up, leaving Janet and Sam alone.

"It's been a bit busy lately, and I haven't had the chance to talk to you much. What's new?" Janet asked her.

"Not a whole lot. I'm seeing someone," Sam replied.

"Oh? Who?"

"He's a police detective from Denver. My brother set us up, as pathetic as that sounds. But it's been good. It had been a long time since it ended with Joe, and I thought I should see what's out there again. He's sweet. Treats me like a queen. I like him."

 _God, she really is an idiot. Well, I'm certainly not going to get involved anymore._

"Well, that's good, Sam. I'm happy for you."

 _Now is when I'll find out if he's really over her. I wonder if he knows. I think I'll bring it up and find out._

"Thanks, Janet. Am I ready to go?"

"Sure are, see you soon, Sam."

...

Meanwhile, Jack was on the red phone again. He tried throw not-so-subtle hints about retirement to Hayes almost every time they talked, for one to keep him on his best behavior, and also in case he ever said yes. He was also trying to avoid the requisition forms on his desk, when he heard a knock.

"Come!"

"Hi, Jack, what'cha workin' on?" Janet asked with a little grin on her face.

He'd been losing his ability to fight the urges her smile brought out in him lately, but he managed to stay strong for now.

"Aren't I supposed to ask you that? If you must know, I'm making important, General type decisions. Like how many rolls of toilet paper we need to order for next month. Ah, hell, I'll leave it the same as last month. We didn't run out, did we?"

Janet giggled. "No, I'm sure you would have heard about it if we did."

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"I have a few minutes and wanted to see if you've eaten lunch yet."

"Actually, I haven't. After SG-1 embarks, we can head down there if you want."

"Sounds good, Jack."

He rose from his chair and followed her out the door. A few times over the last few weeks, Jack has brought lunch to Janet's office when he knew she was busy. He knew he shouldn't do it, but he had been enjoying her company a bit too much these days to just stop. Today, she returned the favor. It was a nice surprise.

...

After SG-1 stepped through the gate, they made their way down to the commissary. Janet grabbed her chicken salad sandwich and apple pie. Jack grabbed a sandwich with two slices of chocolate cake. They chatted inanely for a couple of minutes before Janet went fishing.

"I heard about Sam's new boyfriend today. You hear anything about him yet?"

"Can't say I have. Anyone we know?"

He looked indifferent, maybe slightly curious.

"I don't think so. She said he's a cop."

"Speeding again? Well, good for her. Hopefully this one doesn't try to wipe out the human race on Earth."

Janet chuckled. "It would be good if he didn't."

 _..._

After they finished eating, Jack went back to the control room. When he walked in the door, the klaxons went off.

"It's SG-1's IDC, sir. Audio only."

"Sir, this is Carter."

"I copy, Carter, go ahead."

"We found an Ancient repository here. The planet seems to be deserted, so we can stand by while you get a team to remove it from the wall."

"I know how to remove it, Carter. I'll be there in fifteen. Stand by. O'Neill out."

Jack geared up and headed through to P3X-439. He got to SG-1's location and walked up to the repository, keeping his head off to the side.

"Sir? Are you sure you should be doing that?"

"Yes, Carter. I am the foremost expert on these headsuckers, remember?"

He touched his hands over sensors at the top and bottom of the repository, and it slid out of the wall, allowing Jack to remove it.

"Here, Teal'c, you carry it back."

They started the walk back, when all of a sudden they heard death gliders diving for their position.

"Crap. Ok, move! Daniel, dial home when we get there," Jack ordered.

They made it to the DHD, and Daniel started dialing while the others fired at a large force of Jaffa headed their way. While they ran toward the gate, one of the Jaffa fired one of their big, cannon-sized guns and hit Carter right in her side. Jack picked her up and ran through the gate, taking a staff blast to his upper back as he went through the event horizon.

When they came back through, Sam was just about dead. Jack set her down and put his hands on the gaping, bloody hole in her side. Janet and the med team rushed in, but Daniel stopped them.

"Wait! I think he's healing her. Look."

Her wound was slowly shrinking as Jack focused everything he had into healing her. After a few more minutes, the skin on her side was unblemished, and she was conscious. Jack, meanwhile, collapsed to the floor. Janet hurried to his side.

"He was shot in the back. He's barely got a pulse. Get over here now!"

They frantically got Jack on the gurney, when Sam finally spoke.

"What happened? I thought I was dead."

"You would have been, but Jack healed you," Daniel provided.

"He what?"

"I guess he held on to some of that Ancient download the last time."

"Then where is he going? Why can't he heal himself?"

"I don't think the Ancients could heal themselves, only others. Also, I'm pretty sure bringing you back from the dead took a lot out of him."

SG-2 heard about what happened, so they beat SG-1 to the infirmary. Soon, all of them were standing there awaiting Janet's diagnosis.

"He was shot in the back, but that's nothing compared to other things he's been through. The problem is, he's in a deep coma. I'm guessing it's from whatever he did to Sam."

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Daniel asked her.

"Daniel, I don't know. This is the kind of coma most people never wake from. There is very little brain activity."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

"He'll beat this. He's supposed to die smart mouthing some bad guy, not healing someone." Wilkins tried to reassure them.

"Is it ok to stay with him?" Hailey asked.

"Sure, but you guys need to take care of yourselves, too. Sam, I want to check you out and make sure there's nothing wrong with you."

"Ok, Janet."

 **February 15, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

After a couple of days without improvement, they called Thor up. He healed the staff wound, but there was nothing he could do for the coma. As far as his equipment was concerned, there was no injury to correct. He suggested waiting to see if O'Neill awakened on his own. According to Thor, if he was a full blooded Ancient, he would have probably fared better, but since he wasn't, his body wasn't made to handle the strain of healing someone near death. However, the fact that he was alive was a good sign.

A week after the incident, it was about 1900 hours when Janet sat at his bedside, holding his hand as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Dr. Brightman relieved her for the night, so she just sat there hoping, wishing.

Sam walked in, surprised to see Janet holding his hand, and even more surprised to see her crying.

"So, no change I take it?"

"No," Janet said as she sniffled.

"So, what's up, Sam? Haven't seen you in a couple days."

"Pete took me out for Valentine's Day yesterday, so I didn't have a chance to come down."

Janet said nothing, her bleak mood startling Sam.

 **February 21, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Colonel Dixon was standing in the control room as the klaxons were blaring.

"It's the Tok'ra IDC, sir."

"Open the iris."

Jacob Carter stepped through the gate, and then it shut off behind him.

"General Carter."

"Dave, how are things?"

"You've missed quite a bit, sir. Go get checked out first."

Jacob made his way to the infirmary where he saw Captain Hailey and Vala looking like their world was coming to an end.

"Why the long faces?"

Then he turned to find Janet, who looked even worse.

"Janet? What the hell happened?" He was getting worried now. "Is Sam ok?"

"Sam's fine, Jacob. Let's get you looked at and I'll show you."

Janet declared him fit, and led him down to the bed in the corner of the infirmary.

"Ferretti, Wilkins. What's up?" Jacob asked.

They both nodded over to the bed where Jacob saw Jack lying.

"He's back?"

Ferretti decided to tell him the story.

"He got back just after the new year. He was promoted, has two stars now. You can give him hell about that when he wakes up. Anyway, he took command of the base, and things were normal for a little while. A couple of weeks ago, SG-1 found an Ancient repository, and Jack wanted to bring it back. Apparently, he's still got a few Ancient tricks up his sleeve, because he went out there, pushed a few buttons, and removed it from the wall. On the way back to the gate, they were surprise attacked by Jaffa. One of them shot Sam in the side with one of their big guns. She wouldn't have survived another ten seconds, but Jack put his hands on her wound and started healing her. After a few minutes, she was fine, but he collapsed into a coma. There hasn't been any change since."

"What's the prognosis?"

"Considering the cause, it's impossible to know for sure. But it's a very deep coma. Deep enough that we should really be discussing the orders in his living will," Janet answered with haunted eyes.

"The son of a bitch did it again. I've lost count of how many times I owe him for Sammie's life. Where is she anyway?"

"Probably at home getting ready for her date," Hailey replied.

"Date? What loser has she picked up now?"

"Don't know, some cop," Jen clarified.

"Well, I'll get the scoop from her. Call me if anything changes with Jack."

"I will, Jacob," Janet answered.

Jacob got an airman to drive him to Sam's house. When he arrived, he knocked on the door.

"Dad! I didn't know you were coming."

"Hey, honey. I didn't know I would get the chance until the last minute. What are you up to? Hot date tonight?"

She was still in her robe after her shower, so she didn't know how he came to that conclusion.

"How did you know?"

"The grapevine knows everything. You know that. So, what's this guy like?"

He grilled her for a few minutes about Pete, and she gave her standard answers, the ones she told herself and everyone else.

"So, what about Jack?"

She was stunned into silence for a moment.

"What? Why would you think I'd be interested in him? He's my CO. Not to mention in a coma."

"Look, honey, I know how you are, so I'm only going to say this once. If you lose him, you will regret it for the rest of your life. You'll always be able to find Petes and Joes to fill your bed. You won't find another Jack to fill your life."

"Dad, that's enough. If I even thought that way it would violate the frat regs, and I don't anyway. I really like Pete. I can see a future with him."

"Ok, Sammie," he said in a placating tone that earned him another glare.

…

Later that night, Janet was ready to go home after sitting with Jack for a few hours. Suddenly, she noticed his brain activity had increased.

"Jack?"

"Can you hear me? I'm here, Jack," she grabbed his hand and hoped for a response.

It didn't come, but he was in a light coma now, one that he could wake up from at any minute. She called Cassie to tell her the news, and that she was staying on base tonight. She sat back down next to his bed and took his hand again.

"It's time to wake up now, Jack."

She sniffled.

"I've missed you enough over the last four years. It's time to come back," she said with tears in her eyes. All of a sudden, she heard something.

"Jan. Janet?" A soft, raspy voice choked out.

She hurried and gave him a sip of water.

"I'm here, Jack. Thank you."

"Wha?"

She gave him her huge, beaming smile.

"Thank you for coming back. Now, get some rest."

"K. You saved me again."

"What?"

"Heard your voice. Came back." Then his eyes closed, and he fell asleep.

She composed herself enough to call everyone with the news, and then she lay on the bed next to his and crashed into an exhausted sleep.

...

She woke up the next morning hearing him tell Jen and Vala to be quiet so that she could sleep.

"It's ok, I'm awake now. How's our patient?"

"Tired of being hooked up to all of this equipment, Doc. I feel fine now."

Jacob heard that as he walked in and laughed out loud.

"Now, if that's not Jack O'Neill, I don't know who is."

"Jake? Good to see you. What brings you by?"

"Got a little time off from the Tok'ra. You know how it is."

"Not really. I'll take your word for it."

Daniel and the rest of SG-2 joined them, and they all fussed over him while Janet checked him out. Other than being weak from lying in bed for two weeks, he seemed to be in excellent health.

Jacob noticed how Jack and Janet were eyeing each other while she looked him over.

 _Uh oh, Selmac. Looks like I was too late with my speech. I think Sammie might have already lost him._

 _It looks like she returns his feelings. Be happy for him. He certainly deserves it._

 _I know._

Jack was ordered to stay on base for a couple of days to get his strength back and also to keep an eye on him. He told everyone he would have them over Saturday at the house for a team night, having Daniel pass along that Mitchell, Teal'c, Carter, and her boyfriend can come too, if they want to.


	5. Getting Together

**February 26, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack had to put the leaf in his dining room table and get some chairs from the garage to accommodate this poker game. At the table sat SG-2, Daniel, Teal'c, Janet, Cassie, and himself all playing. Mitchell couldn't make it, but everyone else was supposed to be there. Cassie was making sure Vala didn't cheat. Wilkins was giving Daniel a hard time about being too easy to read. Jack had just folded when there was a knock at the door, so he went to answer it.

"Jacob, I didn't expect you to be able to make it."

"And miss hanging out with you for the first time in four years?"

"Well, we've got one chair left if you want to buy in."

"Sure, I'll play for a little bit."

They had only played a few hands when there was another knock on the door. Jacob was out of the hand, so he went to answer it.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Sam looked terrified.

"Hey, cookie. I haven't seen Jack in years, so I wanted to stop by before I have to leave town again."

"Dad?" Pete echoed Sam's question with a 'deer-in-the-headlights' look on his face.

"No." Sam grimaced at her father's unforgiving tone.

"Hey, Dad, who is it? Hi, Carter. Come inside, and you can introduce him to everyone."

She winced when the General called her father 'Dad', and then followed them inside.

She introduced Pete to everyone. Vala and Hailey immediately locked eyes and smirked.

"Sam, your CO is Colonel Jack O'Neill? The man who defeated the Aschen? The man who everyone wanted to run for president?"

"They wanted me to run for president?"

"Uh, yeah, Pete," she mumbled to Pete, ignoring the General.

"And, actually, it's General O'Neill now," Jack added.

"You guys think we have room to play twelve handed?" he continued.

Janet exited the game to make room for Sam and Pete. She just sat back on the couch and watched Jack closely.

"Jack, you don't live here by yourself anymore, do you?" Jacob asked, looking right at a rather feminine vase with flowers in it a few feet away in the kitchen.

"No, Jake. Vala has lived here since we started the whole Aschen operation. She had nowhere else to go. And Jen moved in not long after that because she quit her job to help out."

Sam was shocked that she never knew this.

"Isn't that against the frat regs, sir?"

"Come on, Carter, what is Henry going to do? I threaten to retire every time I speak to him now, for cryin' out loud. He wanted me in this job. I certainly didn't request it, so he's going to have to be accommodating."

"Who is Henry?" Pete asked.

"President Hayes," Jack responded.

"President Hayes? You talk to him often? You call him Henry?" Pete asked in awe.

"He's my CO, so almost every day. And, yes, I call him Henry. Most COs don't want to be sir-ed to death when they're off duty."

...

They played cards for a while longer until it was late enough to order the pizzas. Teal'c put on Star Wars, because why not? Jack wasn't watching anyway. He was watching more of Janet than anything, which she definitely noticed.

After the movie, people started filing out. Janet pulled aside Jen and Vala.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to Jack. Is there anything you two can think of to do to give us some time?"

Jen gave her a huge grin. "We'll take Cassie to a late movie or something."

Vala was also beaming at her. "Good luck. And tell us all about it."

She winked at Janet and received a blush and a scowl in return.

Everyone left, and Jack was sitting on the couch when Janet joined him.

"Where'd everyone go?"

"The guests all left, and Jen and Vala wanted to see a movie with Cassie."

"Oh." He look frightened for a moment before schooling his expression.

"Jack, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure."

"Are you still in love with Sam?"

"What?" He exclaimed as he choked on his beer.

She never would have come right out and asked him, except that he admitted it to her four years ago, so why not bite the bullet? She stared him down waiting for his answer.

"No, Janet, I'm not."

She could the truth in his eyes, and her heart fluttered.

"Look, I'll probably always love her. We went through a lot together, and I had some pretty extreme feelings for her. I'll always be there if she needs something. It's the same with Sara. I'll always love her too. But romantic feelings for her died with Charlie. Romantic feelings for Sam died somewhere around the time she sent me to be experimented on, probably even before that. I couldn't go back there, even if she wanted to. Why do you ask?"

Janet grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him. It was passionate, but not desperately so. And he responded immediately, sweeping in his tongue, trying to keep himself some ravaging her when she whimpered in his mouth. After a long while, they parted to catch their breath.

"Oh my," Janet muttered breathlessly.

 _I need to do that again! Wait, he's going to say something._

"Janet, are you sure? You're a beautiful woman, and one of the best people I've ever known. I'm a broken down, miserable, old..."

"Jack, shut up. Do you know how long I've wanted this? If a certain Captain Carter hadn't come along, I probably would have jumped you eight years ago. But after getting to know you even better these last four years, I know exactly what I'm getting into, and it's exactly what I want. What about you?"

Jack was slack jawed for a moment before he answered by kissing her again. He thrust his tongue in her mouth and ran it along hers while he pulled her into his arms in a tight embrace. He broke off the kiss.

"Yes, I want this."

At that, she climbed onto his lap and straddled him, grinding herself against his arousal while she snaked her arms around his neck and began kissing him ferociously. He pulled her top off over her head and slid his hands to the small of her back, pulling her tighter against him. Then he quickly stood up, holding her up as her legs wrapped around his waist, and he continued kissing her as he carried her to his bedroom.

A while later, after they finished, they were lying there catching their breath, sweat glistening on their bodies, Jack's arm wrapped possessively around her waist, when she finally spoke.

"Oh, God, wow. To hell with Captain Carter, I should have jumped you eight years ago."

Jack laughed, "I wouldn't have complained. That reminds me, though. I wasn't your commanding officer then. I am now. What do you want to do about that? Keep it quiet?"

"Well, if this happened, I had every intention of resigning my commission. I can still be the base CMO as a civilian."

"If you insist on it, I won't fight you, but let's keep it in our back pocket for now. No need to throw away your commission if you find out that you can't stand me."

She snorted and smacked his chest. "You idiot. You don't think I know almost everything about you? I know things you never told anyone else, even me. But we can hold off on it for a while if you want."

He kissed her gently, lovingly, his lips lingering on hers for a moment after the kiss. She hummed her approval.

"Good. Now, there's something I don't want to hold off on anymore."

He devoured her mouth with his, his hand sliding down her stomach and down to her thigh, setting her on fire.

…

Cassie didn't want to see a movie, so Jen and Vala told her that her mom wanted to speak with Jack alone and dropped her off at home. They got back to the house, but waited to go back inside, not wanting to interrupt them. Not much later, they saw the shadow going back to the bedroom.

"I guess talking is over now," Jen commented.

"Looks like it. I'm so happy for both of them."

"Me too. Let's go. Be quiet though."

They silently entered the house and went out to sit on the couch, where they found Janet's blouse. Vala held it up and grinned from ear to ear.

"That lucky woman," Vala whispered.

After they overheard them finish, Jen asked, "You think it's safe to turn on the TV?"

"As long as it's quiet. I never hear it and I'm just as far away."

After a while, they heard the completion of round two.

"I hope they don't keep us up all night," Vala complained.

Jen just giggled.

...

The next morning, when Janet stirred, she realized she wasn't alone. There was an arm wrapped around her, holding her against a hard, naked body. Then she felt him poking against her thigh, and she remembered everything. With a huge smile on her face, she rolled over to face him. She'd seen him sleep countless times in the infirmary, but she's never seen him so at ease. He looked happy. That she could play a part in that almost brought tears to her eyes. She just watched him for a moment before his eyes opened and locked onto hers.

"Good morning. Comfortable?" he asked, bringing her back to that first morning after he came back from Thor's ship.

"Just fine, Jack. You?" She smiled at him.

He gave her the biggest smile she'd ever seen on him, and her heart was doing somersaults in her chest.

"You know, I was accused of being in a good mood that day. This was the reason, waking up to you."

She just looked at him with as much love in her eyes as she could muster and kissed him thoroughly.

 _If he's going to be sweet too, we might as well book the chapel now._

 _..._

"I guess those two are awake. I wonder if they are going to do anything besides have sex," Vala said with an unmistakable jealousy in her voice as she heard them going at it again.

Jen snorted. "I guess it's been a while for both of them. Give them a break."

A short while later, they both came downstairs, fresh out of the shower. Janet was wearing her clothes from yesterday, except one of Jack's t-shirts replaced her blouse, which was now in Hailey's hand.

"Looking for this?" She tried to smirk, but it ended up being a toothy grin.

"Thank you, Jen."

Jack brought her a cup of coffee and took his own over to the couch while the ladies were still in the kitchen.

"Don't worry. We won't ask about it. We know." Vala reassured her.

"We heard all we wanted to know," Jen added with a smile.

Janet blushed, and then hissed back, "Oh for God's sake, you're like teenagers."

She beamed a smile at them and took her coffee with her as she joined Jack on the couch. He put his arm around her and pulled her against him.

"You think we should take Cassie out and give her the news? I'm guessing those two busybodies gave her the heads up last night."

"We probably should. Breakfast? Or dinner?"

"I'm thinking breakfast. I doubt she could wait until dinner without beating down the door over here first."

Janet giggled. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

As she moved to stand up, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down for what was going to be a quick kiss, but quickly threatened to escalate.

"Haven't you two had enough already?" Vala asked incredulously. Jen just burst out in laughter.

Jack glared at Vala. "I guess we'd better go."

"Yeah, I suppose." She pouted for a moment, and then put on a determined face.

She ran to the bedroom and put her own top back on before heading outside. She drove her car home with Jack following in the truck.

When she got home, she opened the front door and was immediately greeted by Cassie, who was standing there waiting for her.

"You're back awfully late, Mother. You have something you want to tell me?"

Janet couldn't speak, only gave her a huge smile. Cassie shrieked and ran to hug her.

"I'm so happy for you, Mom."

"Thank you, sweetie," she replied.

Moments later, Jack walked in, and Cassie grabbed him into a hug as well.

"Jack, I'm happy for the both of you. You two, of all people in the galaxy, deserve to be happy."

"Thank you, Cass. Your mother does make me happy, and so do you."


	6. Unofficial

**March 17, 2005 – Othalla**

"My findings have concluded that the genetic makeup of an offspring of O'Neill would hold valuable information that would likely solve the problem of clone degradation in the Asgard. If we are to honor this treaty with the humans of Earth, why would we not seek something of such value in return, rather than an empty promise of primitive assistance should we require it?" Loki questioned the Asgard High Council.

"O'Neill has no living offspring, Loki, so such a request would be for naught. Also, it was O'Neill's 'primitive assistance' that is the reason we are here to discuss this issue. If O'Neill were to produce another offspring, we could pass along such a request, but the Council will have no part in coercing him using the treaty that was negotiated in good faith," Freyr responded.

Sitting in the room listening to the proceedings was Snotra. She had argued for months that arming Earth could well create a new enemy the Asgard might eventually have to fight, or that the Earth humans could end up destroying themselves. There were some on the Council that were sympathetic to her argument, but not enough. Hearing Loki's plea, she suddenly had an idea that could get Loki what he wanted while at the same time swinging the opinion of the Council in her favor.

"Loki."

"Yes, Snotra."

"Come. We have much to discuss."

 **March 21, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

It has become their routine that they would have lunch together in one of their offices whenever they weren't both too busy, so Janet grabbed a couple of plates with their usual fare and headed to Jack's office.

Along the way, she was contemplating the last few weeks. She could honestly say she has never been happier. She'd known all of the sides of the man over the years, so she shouldn't have been surprised by any of it. But the tender, loving side she saw with Cassie had a whole different feeling when it was directed at her. She really didn't see that coming, and was so in love with him at this point that she didn't ever want to have to live without him. Approaching his office, she heard him on the phone with someone, and not wanting to interrupt, she waited patiently outside.

...

Inside Jack's office, he continued his conversation.

"Jack, we've got a location on the two at-large Aschen. It's not good. They are in Shenzhen, in Guangdong province. They working in a small building on the outskirts of the city."

"Shenzhen? I'm familiar with it, unfortunately," Jack grumbled. He didn't like where this was going at all.

"Borren apparently has some materials left and is trying to make more of the bioweapon. The Chinese government is assisting, wanting to get their hands on it, too."

"Those idiots believe he'll just hand it over, and not just release it right in their faces?"

"It looks like it. Look, Jack, we need to take them out, and if the building has their research, it has to go too. I need you to find me someone you can trust to make the hit. I don't have to tell you it…"

"I know, sir. Completely unofficial, no backup, top level classified. Been there, done that. I'll do it, sir. I'll never ask that of anyone under my command, especially when I am perfectly capable."

"Jack, you're the General now. It's time to let others do the fighting."

"Sir, with all due respect, you contacted the SGC, which means it's my call. You could always have a black ops team go in there."

"I know, but we don't know what kind of Aschen technology or defenses they might run into. Stargate Command is familiar with anything they might encounter. It really needs to be your mission."

"I understand, sir. But Stargate Command isn't made up of assassins. These people aren't trained for it, or even psychologically profiled for fitness. I have been. I've done too many of these before. I can deal with the aftermath. Not to mention, I'm in better shape than before I joined the program. I couldn't ask someone else to do it."

"Damn it, Jack. If something goes wrong, I have no idea how we would be able to get you out of there."

"I've been there before too, sir. But you can always ask Thor if need be. I would just have to go on the assumption that there would be no rescue."

"I may regret this, but fine, Jack. God, how did Hammond put up with you all of those years?"

That brought a smirk to Jack's face.

"Have no idea, sir. When do I ship out?"

"You'll transport to the Pentagon at 1930 tonight. You will be fully briefed when you get here."

"Got it, sir."

Jack hung up the phone with a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. He'd done his share of assassinations, but that didn't keep them from haunting his dreams or his soul. Not to mention, if he got caught, once again there would probably be no rescue. And the Chinese wouldn't be gentle with him, that was for damn sure. He knew as soon as Hayes mentioned those two Aschen again what the plan would be, and he sunk so far into the depths of himself that he didn't even hear the familiar clicking of the heels of his favorite doctor approaching his open door.

He was snapped out of his funk by the lovely sight of the woman he loved. Yes, he knew that. It had probably been a long time coming. And, no, he wasn't going to scare her off by telling her.

"Hi, Janet. Sorry. I didn't hear you coming."

"It's fine, Jack. Hungry? I brought lunch."

"Sure, thanks," he replied, and sat there picking at the food. He didn't even go for the cake.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just got a call about a mission. I leave at 1930 tonight."

"Oh? Anything you can tell me about?"

"No. Top level classified. I'm sorry."

"It's ok, Jack, I've been in the military for a long time. I understand. If there's anything you can talk about, I'm here for you."

He gave her a soft smile. "I know, Janet. Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me."

They ate in near silence, and Janet went back to work.

...

It was nearing the end of the day, and Janet couldn't help but keep dwelling on what she overheard earlier. She only heard Jack's side of the conversation, but it was enough for her heart hurt for him. She knew that he was to go to China and assassinate two targets with no backup, and possibly no rescue. By the dejection in his voice, she knew he would be a mess when he came back, and she was determined to support him however she could.

At 1800, She accompanied him home where they immediately made love almost desperately, both uncertain about Jack's immediate future. Afterwards, Jack showered and packed his bag.

"I don't know when I'll be back, but I'll make it as quick as I can."

"I know, just take care of yourself."

"You too, and tell Cassie I'll see her when I get back."

He gave her a breath stealing kiss, followed by a long, tender one.

"See you soon."

"Bye, Jack."

 **March 23, 2005 – Hong Kong, People's Republic of China**

Jack was sitting on the plane, waiting for it to land, wearing one of his best suits, playing the part of an international businessman. He was to fly to Hong Kong, where he would meet a guy by the name of Zheng Hao, who would take him to get geared up and get him near the facility. He wished he could have just taken his ship, but they couldn't afford it falling into Chinese hands if this all went to hell. Jack exited the plane, and there was a man waiting for him at the door to the terminal.

"Nǐ hǎo, wǒ de míngzì shì Zhānmǔsī Wēi ěr kè sēn. Wǒ zài xúnzhǎo yīgè rén Zhèng Hào de míngzì," Jack greeted the man, introduced himself as James Wilkerson, and told him he was looking for Zheng Hao.

"Nǐ hǎo. Wǒ shì Zhèng Hào," Zheng Hao replied, identifying himself.

"Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma?" Jack asked him if he spoke English.

"Yes, I do, Mr. Wilkerson."

"Thank God," Jack muttered.

Jack showed his paperwork to the guards, and then Hao led him to his car and drove him out of the airport.

"Is it safe to talk in here?"

"Yes, this is my personal car."

"How far is the safe house from the destination?"

"Around seven kilometers."

"And you'll be waiting there with the car when I'm finished, right?"

"I will."

"Good, let's get this over with."

They got to the safe house, and Jack immediately looked over his gear and the recon, coming up with a plan. Now, he just had to wait until dark to get going.

Jack left as soon as the sun began to set. He stuck to the trees at first. He would always complain about trees on his SG missions as a joke, but also because they reminded him of all of his missions like this one, where the cover they provide is a blessing and the only thing you can really rely on.

Luckily, the trees ran almost all the way up to the facility. There was about 500 yards of open, grass covered ground between the trees and the building, so he decided to climb one of them to get a look around with his binoculars. There was a guard at the front door, Chinese Army, and no sign of the Aschen. He got down from the tree and crawled on his belly in the open field to get a look at the back of the building. Another guard, no Aschen. In the back, there was a little alcove right next to the door that the cameras didn't cover, but to get to the alcove he would be in view of the cameras for a brief moment. He was wearing a Chinese Army uniform, so he hoped the brief sighting wouldn't alarm anyone.

Jack crept his way to the building in the camera's blind spots, and then made his way into the alcove. The guard must have heard something, since he immediately turned around and stepped toward him. Jack grabbed his collar and pulled him in, punching him in the face. Then he spun him around and choked the life out of him without making a sound. He searched him for any keys or anything he might need. He found nothing, so it should be pretty straight forward getting inside. He cocked his silenced Beretta and walked in the door.

His first objective was to eliminate the two Aschen. That way, if he failed to complete the mission, hopefully the research was too advanced for the Chinese to do anything with on their own. He had yet to see any sign of them, though. He opened a door on his right and saw two Chinese soldiers sleeping on cots. The first one was lying on his side, his back to the door. He tried to distance himself from his actions as he came up behind him and sliced open his throat. The other soldier was lying on his back, so Jack covered his mouth with his hand before ending him the same way.

All of the other rooms were empty, and there was no second floor, therefore he concluded that there must be a lower level. He saw a soldier guarding the staircase going down. He was smoking a cigarette, and Jack waited to see what he did when he finished it. The guard dropped the butt on the floor to step on it, and as soon as he looked down, Jack was behind him and snapped his neck.

He dragged the dead guard into one of the rooms to keep him out of sight, and then headed downstairs. The bottom floor was one big lab with no other rooms. He spotted Borren and the other Aschen immediately. Now, he was looking for guards, but didn't see any. He aimed his Beretta at the unnamed Aschen and fired, the bullet entering the back of his skull, killing him instantly. Jack then exited his cover behind a cabinet and came face to face with Borren.

"Colonel O'Neill!?" It was the most emotion he'd ever seen from an Aschen. It was like he saw the Grim Reaper, and, well, he has.

"Boring. It's General, now. You didn't think you would get away from me, did you?" His voice was gravelly and his eyes hollow.

"You see, I could almost thank you. My life is much better now than it was before you assholes showed up. But then I get called away to take care of this."

"I surrend…"

Jack fired his bullet right into Borren's forehead, the soft tick of the shot from the silenced pistol barely audible in the large lab. After that, he went around and placed his C4 on all of the samples and equipment. None of it could be allowed to survive the explosion. He noticed the screens showing the cameras were down here, and no one was even watching them. He saw that the only guard left was the one at the front door, so Jack went upstairs, walked right out the door, and shot the guard in the temple. Then he went back inside, set up the rest of the C4, and walked out the front door. When he got back to the trees, he pulled the trigger, and the building went up in a huge pillar of fire.

He made his way back toward the safe house, only to notice three vehicles parked there. Still in the trees, he pulled out his binoculars and looked to see Zheng Hao being thrown into the back of one of the cars.

 _Damn it. I'd better get the hell away from here._

He ran straight into the woods. He knew he couldn't stay here. They will have the whole forest surrounded. But for now, it was his only cover as he tried to come up with the ever critical plan B.


	7. Worried

**March 25, 2005 – Shenzhen, Guangdong, People's Republic of China**

Jack's plan was to head north into Shenzhen, to get into the national park with more trees for cover, and then head west to Bao'an, hoping to catch a ride to Hong Kong. He could have just gone due south of the safe house, but the Chinese knew that his only hope in hell of getting out of there was through Hong Kong, and the way there must have been crawling with Chinese military. He hoped that this roundabout way would throw them off of his scent. He was pleasantly surprised to find a small wad of Chinese renminbi in the army uniform, so he went and bought himself some more inconspicuous clothes on the way.

His luck would run out, however, as he exited the country park. He came out on a sidewalk, turned the corner, and walked right into a military checkpoint. He was right alongside a large, concrete building, no alleys to duck in, no doors to enter. He tried to nonchalantly turn around, but immediately heard a shout.

"Tíng zài nǐ shēn zài hé chù!"

Hearing the order to stop right there, he did so and turned around. They immediately took him into custody. They were looking for him. Apparently, old Zheng Hao gave him up.

 **March 28, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Word has been spreading around the base to avoid Dr. Fraiser if at all possible. She had been extra rough with her exams today, and she was heard dressing down an airman while waiting for the elevator earlier. Even Sam and Daniel were avoiding her after drawing her ire at their post mission checks. Hailey and Vala were on their way to the infirmary to see if they could cheer her up. They had a good idea of what was wrong. On their way in, they heard an amusing exchange.

"You know, Doc, you sound like you need to have yourself a good time, relax, enjoy yourself," Captain Dennis Logan told her.

"Dennis…" she replied with a warning in her tone that he would do well to heed, but instead he cut her off.

"Come on, Janet. Let me take you out to dinner tonight."

"Captain Logan, I will not be going out to dinner with you, ever. What I can do is schedule you for an enema the next time you're in here, if you want to keep pushing your luck. Now, get out," She snapped at him.

Hailey and Vala walked in, barely able to keep from laughing out loud at the look on the young Captain's face. He immediately ran off, and Jen couldn't hold it in anymore.

"I bet he won't do that again," she said laughing hysterically.

Janet looked a bit remorseful. "Oh, crap. I didn't mean to hurt the kid. It's just been a rough day."

"I know, honey. Why don't we do something tonight? Get good and drunk and catch up on the latest gossip," Vala suggested.

Janet snorted. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually. Ok, fine. Jack's place?"

"Yep. Say 1900. We'll order pizza," Jen proposed.

"Great, I'll bring a few bottles of wine."

...

That evening, Janet arrived at Jack's house, and the three ladies started talking.

"Sure, I miss him, but it's not just that. I have a bad feeling about this mission he's on."

"Do you know what it is?" Vala asked.

"Not completely. I overheard some things. But it's top level classified, and if anyone finds out I know anything, they can go after Jack, so I'm not going to say anything. I'm just worried because, if something goes wrong, I will have to tell someone. I won't leave him over there if he's in trouble."

"We won't either. If we have to, we'll get the guys and figure out what to do. But it's only been a week," Vala reassured her.

"I know. I might be being ridiculous."

After a couple of hours and a couple of bottles of wine, the conversation was flowing much easier.

"So, what's it like to finally catch Jack?" Jen asked her.

"It's unbelievable, really. I'm not a young woman. I've been around the block. I've even been married. But I've never felt anything like this before. You think you know him inside and out, and yet he never ceases to surprise you, in a good way most of the time."

"You're right about that. I remember a planet we went to when we were looking for the repository with Thor. They were descendants of Middle East Arabs here, and because Vala and I didn't have our faces covered, we were thrown into a cell. Long story short, they knocked out Louis, who was supposed to keep an eye on us, and two of the guards were trying to rape me. Jack got us out of there and stopped them, and then afterward he knew exactly when to give me space, when to talk to me, and what to say to me. I would never have expected the hard assed Colonel to handle it so delicately and be so perceptive, and I'd gotten to know him pretty well by that time."

"He really amazes me. Sure, he can be a royal pain in the ass, and he's as stubborn as an ox, but it's so worth it," Janet said wistfully.

 **March 29, 2005 – Changzheng 5, South China Sea, People's Republic of China**

After his initial interrogation and beating, Jack was drugged and moved, to where he was unsure. Once he shook off the drugs, he realized he was on a boat of some sort, probably a submarine from the look and feel of it. He was lying on the hard floor of his cell, no bed to be found. Even worse than the conditions and the torture, was all of the time he had for reflection.

He thought about his brutal murders of sleeping soldiers and Aschen nerds. Their blood covering his hands. The moment the life left their eyes, seconds after those eyes were pleading with him to spare them.

After years of desolation and solitude, the love that now filled his life was waiting for him at home, and he might never see her again.

Finally, he thought of Iraq, Ba'al, and the dozens of other times he had been captured and tortured, making his stomach churn in anticipation of what was to come.

Suddenly, his door opened.

"General, perhaps now you will be more cooperative now that you know you will never see your home again."

 _Damn it. I guess they figured out who I am._

"Rot in hell, Captain."

"I'm sure I will, American. But you will come with me."

He had two men hold him while they ripped off his shirt. Then the Chinese Navy Captain took his probes, which were connected to a car battery, and shoved them into Jack's chest.

"You destroyed that facility, General. You will tell us who helped you. You will tell us everything we want to know, American pig."

Jack spat in his face, earning himself a few punches to the mouth from the two men holding him back.

"General, you know your defiance is futile. We have the rest of your life to convince you to talk."

The Captain grabbed a steel rod with a 'U' at the end of it. It was plugged into the wall, and the tip was red hot. He pressed it into Jack's chest and held it there, branding him. Jack held in the scream, but the smell of his burning flesh nearly made him vomit, and he almost lost consciousness. After that, the interrogators left, leaving him to lie on the concrete floor of his cell.

 **April 1, 2005 – Washington, DC**

"Mr. President, our contact in Hong Kong has been made and was captured by the Chinese. I'm guessing this is why O'Neill hasn't returned or even made contact. We are flying dark at the moment, sir."

"Understood, Steve. Just let me know what you find out."

President Hayes sat back at his desk, rubbing his temples. This didn't look good, and he was going to have to announce O'Neill as MIA very soon. The problem with that was the SGC wouldn't rest until they found him, and any rescue would have to be carefully planned, if even possible. If a rescue team was discovered, the Chinese would consider it an act of war.

When Monday morning came around, still without word from O'Neill, he called over to the SGC.

"General O'Neill's office, this is Colonel Dixon."

"Dave, it's Henry. How have you been?"

"Morning, Mr. President. I'm hanging in there, sir. What can I do for you?"

"Dave, I assume you've heard that Jack was sent on a mission a couple of weeks ago. He is officially being listed as MIA. _Officially_ , I need you to make sure the SGC does not involve itself at all in a rescue mission. This was an unofficial mission, and a rescue could cause a serious international incident. We are going to keep an eye on things and do what we can for Jack, but you have to keep things running business as usual over there."

"Understood, sir. Though you know there are people that will take up a rescue on their own time, probably with their own resources."

"I know Dave, and I can't really expect you to do anything about that. Just try to make it clear the reasons that going in guns blazing isn't a good idea. As much as I like Jack, and I know he means a lot of to a lot of people, we can't start a nuclear war over one man."

"I copy, sir."

"Thanks, Dave. Good luck."


	8. Rescued

**April 4, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

"SG units one and two, report to the briefing room," Walter's voice called out on the base intercom.

A few moments later, the eight of them entered and took a seat.

"I have some news. Two weeks ago, General O'Neill was sent by the president on an unofficial mission. Apparently, something went wrong, as he is now listed as MIA. I was explicitly ordered by Hayes to tell you that there will be no official rescue mission forthcoming from the SGC due to the risk of a serious, international incident should such a mission be discovered. I have been ordered to continue business as usual, and I expect you will do the same."

"Yes, sir," Mitchell replied.

"Sir, do you know where he was?" Sam asked.

"I don't, Colonel. No one does. SG-1, you are still scheduled to embark at 1330. If I get any more news, I will keep you posted. SG-2, stay behind a minute."

After SG-1, left the briefing room, Dixon continued.

"Ok, guys, the president made sure to emphasize that there would be no _official_ involvement in a rescue. If you guys are going to come up with something, you can't do anything that could be tied to the U.S. military or the Asgard. I know you guys know it works. If you are going to take some leave to do this, have it on my desk right away."

"Yes, sir," Ferretti replied.

SG-2 immediately went down to the infirmary and knocked on the door to Janet's office.

"Come in."

"Janet, you have a minute?"

"Yeah, Louis. Oh no, what's wrong?" She noticed the grim look on Ferretti's face.

They all entered her office and closed the door behind them.

"Jack's been declared MIA. Dixon has orders that there will be no official rescue. "

She fought back the moisture in her eyes. "Oh, no. Well, I don't care what his orders are. I'm not going to sit here while he's out there."

"I know, Janet, we aren't either. We need to put in for some leave and then meet somewhere and come up with a plan," Ferretti replied.

"Fine, let's go."

They all put requests for a week leave directly in Dixon's hand. When he saw them, he looked surprised to see Dr. Fraiser's request in there too, but he didn't comment on it.

They all went straight from the mountain to Jack's house.

"Ok, Janet, what do you know?" Jen opened.

"I overheard Jack's side of a conversation, I'm guessing with the president. He was to go to China and take out two targets. Unofficially, no backup, no government acknowledgement, top level classified. Actually, the president wanted him to have someone else do it, but the stubborn ass insisted that he be the one to go. That's all I know for sure."

"I'm sure. When you been an assassin, you don't wish for anyone else to have to go through that. Where in China?" Wilkins asked.

"Shenzhen."

"Oh, I remember that dump alright. Jack and I had an op there about 15 years ago. That still doesn't help us now, though. He could be anywhere," Wilkins added.

"We can assume that if he was free, he would have found a way to make contact. I mean, Hong Kong is right there, and he could have probably gotten a commercial flight home if he made it there," Ferretti remarked.

"If the Chinese have him, and we find him, we can't leave any surviving witnesses or evidence of our involvement in his escape, or you get the international incident Hayes warned Dixon about," Wilkins came back with.

"Vala, how well do you know how to work those Asgard sensors on the tel'tak?"

"I'm not an expert, but well enough I think. I've used them several times now."

"I guess we can always get the ship and fly around southern China until we pick up his life sign, and then come up with a plan from there," Ferretti concluded.

"I'll take a transporter up to the cabin and fly it back. I'll be back soon," Vala said as she ran out the door.

While Vala was gone, Ferretti and Wilkins went home to gear up in their black, unmarked BDUs from their long journey with Jack to save Earth. Jen did the same, and gave Janet a set to wear.

"We're going to get him back, Janet."

"I know we are. I don't care what kind of international incident we have to cause."

The first thing Vala did when she got to the ship was put a call in to Thor.

"Vala Mal Doran, how can I assist you?"

"Jack was sent on a top secret mission on Earth and is missing. He's been out of contact for weeks now. We were wondering if you can help."

"Unfortunately, we are not permitted to interfere in the affairs of your world. There is growing concern on our Council that we have already provided your military with the means to conquer Earth and use our technology for less than honorable ends. Most believe in O'Neill and his influence, but for us to involve ourselves in this would only cause greater alarm among the discontented Council members."

Vala was appalled. "So there's nothing you can do? What if we find him and he needs medical help?"

"I can provide medical aid if you bring O'Neill to me. I will arrive within three of your hours and await word."

"Thanks, Thor."

Vala got back at the same time Ferretti and Wilkins did. She quickly changed into her BDUs, and then played them the conversation with Thor.

"I'm not surprised. This isn't really their business. Just having us coming for him is more than a black ops officer can dream of. So, everyone ready?" Ferretti explained.

...

They all boarded the tel'tak and took off for the Far East. When they arrived, they hovered directly over the city, and Vala had the sensors search for Jack's life sign. Shenzhen is a large city, and after several painstaking hours, they found no sign of him. Next, they tried Hong Kong, then every town surrounding Shenzhen, and came up empty handed. After three days of unsuccessful searching, they all looked dejected.

"They could have him anywhere by now. Hell, they might even have him on a ship to prevent a rescue mission," Ferretti mentioned.

That gave them a new plan, and they hovered over the waters off the coast when they finally found him.

"He's under the water!" Vala exclaimed.

"Do not beam him up yet! We can't leave any witnesses, but we also can't go sinking Chinese subs either. We need to see what we're dealing with," Wilkins cautioned them.

"Will this thing go underwater?" Ferretti asked.

"With the shields up, it will, sir," Hailey assured him.

"Let's go down there, but give it a little distance. Even if we're cloaked, I'm sure they'll notice the disturbed water."

They submerged the tel'tak and got just close enough to the sub to get a look.

"Now, get out of the water!" Ferretti ordered.

"Hopefully they won't notice that we were down there for a few seconds," he continued.

"That's a Han class sub. Hailey, can you get blueprints for them?" Wilkins inquired.

"Already working on it, sir."

Janet just sat back in silence and hoped. There wasn't much she could do, she's a doctor, so she just waited. She did notice how well SG-2 worked together. No doubt Jack's influence commanding them played a part in that, but also that he knew to put these people together in the first place was impressive.

"Here they are. Who can read Chinese?" Jen announced.

"I can. Not as well as Jack, but well enough." Wilkins stepped up to the screen.

"Alright, he's being held in a storage room. No cameras, solid door. If the door is closed, we should be able to beam out the occupants of the room safely."

"What do life signs look like in the hallway outside the room?"

"All clear," Vala told him.

"Ok, so it doesn't matter if the door is open or not. How many life signs in the room?"

"Two."

"Beam them up."

Appearing in the middle of the floor were a Chinese Naval officer holding a branding iron, and a naked Jack O'Neill lying face down on the floor, every inch of him covered in U-shaped burns and lacerations. When the officer went to stick the iron against Jack's skin again, Wilkins immediately drew his sidearm and put a bullet in between his eyes, reacting before anyone else even knew what exactly was happening. Ferretti zatted the dead body a couple times to get rid of it, and Janet was immediately at Jack's side, tears rolling down her cheeks as she felt for his pulse.

"He's alive, but I don't know for how long. Several of these burns are badly infected."

"Thor!"

"I am here, Vala Mal Doran."

"Jack needs dire medical help. Can you beam him aboard?"

Jack and Janet disappeared in a flash.

"Let's fly this boat home, then we'll beam up there and visit," Ferretti ordered.

...

Meanwhile, on Thor's ship, Jack was lying in the healing pod with the top open, covered only in Janet's BDU jacket over his waist. His physical injuries have been healed, but he has yet to awaken. All of a sudden, he started to stir back to consciousness. He felt someone holding his hand. He opened his eyes and saw Janet with tear stained cheeks and a big smile on her face.

 _What the hell? I must be dead._

"Janet?" he mumbled. "I'm so sorry. I tried to hold on, to get home to you. I never wanted to leave you."

Her tears came out in full force now.

"Jack! You're not dead. You did hold on. You came back to me."

He shook out the cobwebs.

 _She must be right, because I know she sure as hell won't be there where I'm going after I die. She's here again, always saving me, always there for me. It's always her.  
_

He looked at her in awe, and with heart wrenching love pouring out of his dark brown eyes. The same look she used to see Sam get from him, she got it now.

"How?"

"SG-2 borrowed your ship. I'll explain the rest later. You just rest, ok?" She gave him a soft, emotion-filled kiss.

A few minutes later, SG-2 beamed aboard.

"How is he?" Jen asked wearily. She was still shaken up at the sight of him on the tel'tak.

"Physically fine, but exhausted. The rest, I don't know yet."

They all sat there quietly for a while, until Jack woke up and broke the silence.

"So, how did my unofficial mission get such a big rescue party?"

They explained everything to him, including the orders not to mount a rescue, and that the Chinese would have no way to tie this to the U.S. or the Asgard.

"Thank you. All of you."

 **April 9, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack was beamed right from the pod into his bedroom, so that he could put some clothes on. Then he went and sat with Janet on the couch while Hailey and Vala went to their own bedrooms for the night.

Jack put his arm around Janet, and she leaned into his side.

"How did you guys know where to look for me?"

"The day you left, I actually overheard you on the phone with the president. I didn't say anything to you because I didn't want you to be distracted by it, and I had no intention of telling anyone else either. Even now, only SG-2 knows. We have a cover story ready to go for when you show up at work again."

"Well, thank you for keeping it quiet. They could have my ass. How much do you know about the mission?"

"Just where it was, that it was 'unofficial', and that it was hit on two targets. You don't have to tell me about it. I would never ask you to reveal classified information to me."

He leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss, lingering for a moment.

"I'm going to be a mess for a while. Not only what was done to me, but what I had to do as well. You've seen my flashbacks enough in the infirmary. I want nothing more than for you to stay with me tonight, but I don't want to hurt you either."

"I know, Jack, and I'll be here. I know how to handle your flashbacks and nightmares. There's something I want to talk to you about, too."

"Ok."

"I'm going to resign my commission as soon as you are back to process it."

"Janet…"

"Listen to me. When you came back a General, you thought you were going to be safe and sound behind a desk, and I had hoped that was going to be the case. But since you've been back, you were in a coma for weeks, and then had this whole ordeal. No matter what job you are doing, you are always going to be asked to do dangerous things, and you will always do them because that's who you are. I'm not mad at you about it. I wouldn't change a thing about you.

But the thing is, I can't handle standing there and having to pretend that everything is fine when you are hurt or missing. I can't do it anymore, and I won't. Jack, what we have is everything I had hoped for and much more. I will never regret giving up my commission for this."

Jack regarded her stubborn look and smiled at her.

"If that's what you want. I just want you to be able to have everything you want. You deserve everything, a lot more than me."

"Jack, I have everything I want, right here and now. Whether I'm Major Fraiser or Dr. Fraiser makes no difference to me."

"Let's go to bed."

He got up and took her hand and led her to the bedroom.


	9. Fishing

**April 28, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack was filling up his coffee mug in the briefing room when he heard the klaxons ring out, so he strode over to the control room.

"It's SG-2's IDC, sir, audio and video."

"What'cha got for me, kids?"

"Ships, sir, about a dozen little ships," Ferretti responded.

"Ah, I thought you might find those there. Are there any inhabitants on the planet?"

"Nope. No sign of anyone being here for a long time."

"Excellent. Hold down the fort, Lou. I'm going to bring help to get the ships home. Keep Wilkins away from them for the time being."

"Yes, sir. Ferretti out."

"Walter, get me SG-11 and SG-21 in the briefing room, ASAP."

"Yes, sir."

Moments later, they were all gathered around the table.

"Alright, folks, we are heading to P2Y-443 for some flying lessons. Well, Lorne and Sheppard are. The rest of you cover us. Gear up and move out in fifteen."

"Yes, sir."

Major John Sheppard was transferred to the SGC when Thor discovered he too possessed the Ancient gene. Now, he got to find out why he was brought here. It turned out that Colonel Wilkins had the gene as well, so Jack had four people at the moment, including himself and Major Lorne, that could operate the puddle jumpers that SG-2 just discovered.

Jack and his entourage approached SG-2.

"Good to see you out in the field again, General."

"Yes, it always is, sir."

 _Jen and Vala are kissing ass for some reason. I'm sure I'll find out what it's about later._

"I need Wilkins, Lorne, and Sheppard with me. The rest of you, make sure no one steals the ships," Jack announced.

Even though Jack had never operated a puddle jumper before, he knew how to do it. It must have been that damn download again. He gave the others a crash course on how to fly them, so that they could get them through the gate.

"Take the ships to the Alpha site. When they are all through, you can come home. I'm heading back."

"Yes, sir."

...

When Jack stepped back through the gate, he laid eyes on his civilian CMO. He couldn't help looking her up and down as he approached the bottom of the ramp. She smirked when she noticed his perusal.

"Don't worry, Doc. No combat for me today, just giving some flying lessons." He gave her a lopsided smile, but his eyes were burning with desire.

 _The damn man is insatiable, and I think it's contagious. I might have to drag him into a storage closet again._

"I'm glad to hear that, sir. You ready to get checked out?" Now, her eyes were burning back at him. This was dangerous.

"After you."

...

After some very suggestive flirting during his post mission check, Jack asked her, "Janet, you want to get away for a weekend sometime soon?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, fishing, of course."

Janet chuckled. "Of course."

He could tell she probably had something a bit more romantic in mind, and he felt awful that he wasn't the most romantic guy in the world, but he did have a bit of a plan for this.

"Hey, I can assure you that you'll enjoy yourself, and you'll even enjoy fishing."

"Ok, honey, we'll go fishing. When do you want to go?"

"A couple weeks, maybe leave Friday evening on the 13th and come back Sunday night."

"It's a date."

 **May 13, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

As the day wound down, Janet found a note on her computer screen.

 _Janet,_

 _I'll pick you up at 1930. Don't forget your bag for the cabin. Dress up, and walk out your back door when you're ready._

 _Jack_

 _Dress up? Are we going out to dinner first? Ok, I'll dress up. Why the back door? What is he planning?_

Janet got home, finished packing her bag, and then got ready for the evening. She was wearing a stunning little red dress with 3" heels to try to close their height gap a bit. Cassie walked out and saw her.

"Mom, I hope you don't kill him. He might not be able to pick his jaw up off of the floor."

"That's the plan, honey. Not killing him, though. I need him very much alive for what I want to do."

"Mom! I'm thrilled for you. I really am, but please don't tell me that."

She giggled. "Ok, sweetie. I'm leaving now. Call if you need anything."

"I will, bye."

Janet grabbed her bag and stepped out the back door. She saw Jack's ship parked in her back yard and walked in the open door. Jack immediately cloaked the ship, set the coordinates he wanted, letting the ship fly itself. Janet set her bag down and noticed music playing. She walked back into the ring room and saw a perfectly set table with dinner being served by an impeccably dressed Jack. He was wearing all black, suit and shirt, with a dark red tie. Her mouth was watering, but not for the food. Jack turned to her and was speechless. He didn't even realize his mouth was open until she gave him a devilish grin.

"You look gorgeous, Janet," he managed to choke out.

"You look pretty good too, Jack. So what's all this?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanted to do something special for you. I hope you're hungry."

"Starved. Where's it from?" They sat down to eat.

"It's from Fratelli's."

"That's my favorite restaurant in the Springs."

"I know."

"We've only been there once, how did you know?"

"I knew that years ago. I overheard you telling someone in the infirmary."

"Well, thank you, Jack. It's delicious."

They talked while they ate, and each had a couple of glasses of wine.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked her.

Janet smiled. "I sure would."

He walked her up to the front of the ship where the music was playing, and in the front window was the Earth. It took up almost the whole window. The lights were off, and the inside of the ship was illuminated only by the light of the Earth. He pulled her close to him, and they started dancing.

"It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful. I figured you deserve something special, unique, extraordinary even. So instead of being on Earth dancing and looking up at the stars, why not be out in the stars dancing and looking up at Earth?"

"Thank you for this."

"You don't have to thank me. I know I'm not the most romantic guy..."

"Jack, you know me. Once in a while it's nice, but I don't need to be showered with flowers and gifts every day. You do a lot better than you think."

She pulled him down for a searing kiss.

"I love you, Janet, and I just want you to have everything you want."

She gave him a huge smile through moist eyes.

"I love you too, Jack, and I have everything I could ever want."

They kissed again and then danced for a while.

"You didn't happen to bring a bed up here, did you?"

"That would have been a bit presumptuous of me, don't you think?" he quipped.

She snorted. "Jack, in how many places have we had sex over the last couple of months? Come to think of it, we don't need a bed up here anyway."

"Oh, no. Tonight, I'm not screwing you against the wall of a spaceship. Maybe tomorrow. I'll probably even want you to put this dress back on. But tonight, we will be in a bed so you can be properly revered."

"Then I suggest you point this ship in the direction of that bed. Now," she almost whispered as she pressed herself tightly against him and nibbled on and kissed the tendon in his neck.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and then ran up front and entered the coordinates for the cabin.

…

Late the next morning, they were sitting out on the dock, Jack with his fishing rod in hand. Janet was just leaned back in her chair relaxing.

"Now I understand how you planned to get me to enjoy fishing with you. You thoroughly exhausted me so that I would be grateful to sit down anywhere."

"It worked, didn't it, snookums?"

She giggled at that.

"Too much with the 'snookums'?"

"Only when we're out here, and I'm too worn out to kick your ass."

He laughed out loud, and then leaned back in his chair. They fell into a comfortable silence for a while.

"Seriously though, Jack, this place is beautiful. I may never pick up a fishing rod, but I do love it here. It's so serene."

"That's what I like about it, no killing out here."

She immediately felt for him. After all of things this wonderful man has had to do and endure, it's no wonder he loves it here.

They spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, making love, even in the ship, and enjoying each other's undivided attention. Janet wasn't sure how much she would like the cabin experience before she agreed to come. She won't have any complaints about coming back.


	10. Curiosity

**May 24, 2005 – Earth Orbit**

"Loki, how long do we have to wait to find out if O'Neill has a mate? Could we not just coerce someone to do it?"

"Snotra, this O'Neill is peculiar for a human. He does not choose a mate indiscriminately. It would not be successful to send a random female to proposition him. For years, we believe he refrained from taking a mate in order to wait for Major Carter to reciprocate his interest. She has since chosen multiple different mates, and we are unaware of O'Neill's current course of action. Since we have received no word, I intend to observe him closely to determine if he has indeed chosen one. It won't be much longer. If he refuses to procreate, we have other options. I, however, prefer to do it this way so that we do not expose our plan prematurely."

"And you are certain the DNA from O'Neill's offspring will be useful enough to convince the Council of it's worth to the Asgard race?"

"Yes, Snotra. They will not be able to find fault with our methods when they learn of the progress we can make with access to this genetic material."

"And when O'Neill uses our own technology to attempt to rescue his mate, and attacks us to try to stop this progress, the Council will realize the error of their ways and end this treaty."

"They will indeed."

 **June 10, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack stood at the base of the ramp as SG-3 walked through leading a FRED that was loaded with what appeared to be Ancient devices on it.

"What did you bring me, Reynolds?"

"A bunch of old junk, sir. You'll have to have the geeks take a look and tell you what it does."

"I'll do that. Debrief in an hour."

While SG-3 headed to the infirmary, Jack took a look at what was on the FRED. He didn't recognize a lot of it, but there was one thing he did recognize. He sent an airman to retrieve Colonel Carter.

"Sir, what did you need?" She asked as she walked into the gate room. She met his eyes, and while they held no animosity toward her, they were a far cry from what they used to look like. But, he'd been happier than she could ever remember the past few months. She didn't know what to make of that, and wasn't going to dwell on it.

"Carter, SG-3 brought this cart full of toys back. You and Hailey can split them up, but I want this to be the first thing you look at."

He held up the object. It sort of looked like a boomerang, or more like a circle that has been folded into quarters, and looked somewhat like a piece of a toy railroad track with the ties running down its length.

"What is it, sir?"

"It's a personal ring transporter." He unfolded it to make a circle, laying it on the floor. It was much smaller than the ring transporters they usually saw. This looked like it would only hold one person at a time.

"Make sure they work, and see if we have a way to activate them. I'll send you what I know about how they work."

"Yes, sir. Understood."

 _He'll what? How much of that Ancient download does he still have?_

 _..._

As Jack sat back down at his desk, waiting to debrief SG-3, he heard a knock at the door.

"Come."

"Jack."

"Daniel. Something I can do for you?"

"No, I just wanted to stop by, say hello."

"As if that's ever all you want. Spit it out, Daniel."

"Nothing, really. You've just been in a really good mood. For a while. I'm glad, God knows you deserve some joy in life. I'm just curious is all."

"Curious about what, Daniel? Didn't I tell you what was up the last time you grilled me about being happy?"

"Yeah, but that was months ago, and you're even happier now. I doubt the relatively calm state of the universe could bring you that much pleasure."

"You'd be surprised. And maybe it's the Ancient download. Maybe it fixed my moods."

"Ok. So…you seeing anybody?"

Jack should have known he would catch on eventually. He had hoped they would think he was still pining for Carter so they would leave him alone. He really needed to work on being more grumpy, he decided.

Daniel, meanwhile, caught a flicker of something in Jack's eyes before he schooled them again. His eyes got wide.

"Oh, well, I'm happy for you. Do we know her?"

"Daniel, we're keeping it quiet for a little longer. You'll be informed soon enough."

"Oh, so it must pretty serious then."

"Daniel, soon. And I would appreciate if you didn't tell anyone what you know yet."

"Sure, Jack."

"See you later, Daniel. I have a debriefing to run."

"Ok."

…

Later that night, Jack was at Janet's house, and was lying in bed next to her.

"Daniel came sniffing around again today, wanting to know why I'm so happy these days. He even worked out that I'm seeing someone."

Warmth filled her whenever he alluded to how happy their relationship made him.

"He's not going to let it go. It doesn't matter to me when we let the cat out of the bag. It's your career we're protecting at this point."

"You know I don't give a damn about my career. I just don't think it's any of their business. Not to mention, I don't feel like being interrogated about it. Hey, didn't you used to have a thing for Daniel?"

She snickered. "No. He's cute and a nice guy. I could have had some fun with him. But a relationship? I would walk all over him."

He laughed. "Yes, you would my Napoleonic power monger. It takes quite the fool to stand up to your fury."

This time she giggled. "You're no fool, Jack. Maybe the most obstinate bastard in the galaxy, but not a fool."

"Obstinate, huh? I love it when you talk dirty."

She climbed on top of him, straddling him, and leaned down to meet him face to face.

"Do you now?" she said in a hushed, throaty voice, and then kissed him passionately. She then whispered in his ear what she was going to do to him. Needless to say, they were done talking for the night.


	11. Mending Fences

**July 4, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack decided to burn some meat for the Fourth, and actually invited SG-1 to come, along with SG-2, and, of course, Janet and Cassie. Since that team night after he woke from his coma, he'd seen Daniel a few times outside of work, but made no effort to spend any time with Sam or Teal'c. He knew there was no way those friendships would ever again be what they were before. Even if he could completely get over their lack of faith in him, they weren't a team anymore, so there was very little opportunity for that degree of trust and familiarity to be restored. Regardless, he was happier than he'd been since Charlie was alive, and thought it might be nice to extend a small olive branch. So they won't be as close as family anymore. They can still be friends.

This change of heart, of course, caused the group that was now as close as family to him to voice their surprise. It was well known that he was the king of holding grudges. But if that's what he wanted, they told him that he had their support.

"You know, this is all because of you. It's easier to hold grudges when you're miserable. When life is good, you tend to want to share the feeling with others," Jen told Janet.

"I hope that's true. I've wanted to see him have some joy in his life as long as I've known him. If I can be the one to do that for him, it means everything to me."

...

Ferretti and Wilkins showed up, each with a 12 pack of Guinness, not that they were in danger of running out. SG-1 arrived a few minutes later, minus Pete, who had to work a big case apparently.

"O'Neill, I would like to express my gratitude for your invitation today."

"No big deal, T. It's been a while. I thought it would be good to catch up."

"Yeah, sir. I was…surprised. But it's nice of you. Thanks," Carter added.

"Surprised? I'm not that much of an ass, am I Carter? You know what, don't answer that." He grinned at her. The smile twisted her gut and weakened her knees.

 _Wow, that smile, it's been years since he smiled at me.  
_

"Yeah, sir. I appreciate it," Mitchell said.

"Mitchell, off duty call me Jack, would ya? Now, I'm going to get the fire going. You kids make yourselves at home."

…

They all engaged in small talk while they ate, and when they were finished, they all chose new seats around the yard. Mitchell was the first to speak up.

"Sir, I'd say the rumors about your grilling skills were unfounded. That was a good steak."

"What rumors? And don't kiss my ass in my own back yard, Mitchell."

"He's right, sir. It's been a while, but you've definitely improved since I last had one of your steaks," Sam added, smiling at him.

"Carter, these are no different than what I always make. Your memory must be failing you."

"The food was excellent, _sir,_ " Hailey stated sharply, clearly mocking everyone that was calling him 'sir'.

"Not you too, Jen. I'll ground you to your bedroom."

Jen and Cassie burst out laughing.

"I'll kick your ass if you try, Jack."

He gave her broad smile. "That's better."

"Or better yet, I'll get Tommy to do it. He doesn't need much convincing to mix it up."

"Who do you think taught Tommy all of his moves?"

"Not you, you old louse." Wilkins entered the discussion.

"Hey T, you show Tommy any of your Jaffa training in the gym?" Jack asked Teal'c.

"Indeed. He did not seem impressed, although he was rarely able to counter effectively."

"Oh, I could have countered effectively. I just didn't think it would be a good idea to go around knifing my colleagues in the balls while we're sparring."

"Is that restraint I hear? Don't go losing your edge on me now, Tom," Jack ribbed him.

Vala came walking over with a fresh beer. She handed it to Jack and sat on his lap. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"What? I thought you would like another beer, snookums."

He choked on the first sip. "What!? Snookums?"

"I heard you liked that term of endearment." She glanced at Janet, which got all of the women except for Sam laughing.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud. Get up, Vala."

"Fine, but just until that one's empty." She pouted and found another chair.

"So Jack, we found some more of those Ancient puddle jumpers. What are we going to do with them?" Daniel chimed in.

"Find more pilots for them and use them, that's what. They're a lot better than our 302s. Hell, they can probably take down our big ships. The only thing I don't like is that they don't have a way out other than the door. Carter, how are you coming along on those personal ring thingys?"

"They are all in working order, and I'm almost finished with a way to control them."

"Excellent. Now, that's enough talk about work."

The conversation came pretty easily the rest of the night. Sam and Teal'c even felt as though Jack was their friend again. It wasn't like before, but it was nice nonetheless. That he would even give them that much was a blessing. They knew how he never forgave Frank Cromwell for leaving him behind in Iraq, and their friendship was over completely. After they had also left him behind, Sam and Teal'c feared they were in store for same brand of O'Neill grudge. Surprisingly, it looked like they might not be.

 **August 14, 2005 – Earth Orbit**

"It appears that O'Neill's mate is Dr. Fraiser, but she is not currently with child," Loki told Snotra.

"Is he not capable of fertilizing her?"

"According to Thor's records, he is capable. It seems the woman has taken a substance that prevents fertilization. I will attempt to remove it from her system."

Loki beamed into Janet Fraiser's bedroom while she slept. He held a device over her, and then beamed back out.

"The substance was removed. She is once again fertile."

"Very well."


	12. Proposal

**August 26, 2005 – Paris, France**

Jack was a nervous wreck. He was standing at the back entrance to Le Meurice in Paris waiting for his dinner date. Having Asgard beaming technology did make the trip much easier, but that did nothing to settle his nerves.

 _What the hell am I thinking? Of course I have to go and screw up the best thing to happen to me in years, maybe ever. It's way too soon. Just because I know what I want doesn't mean she does, or that she would want the same thing anyway._

He was there in Paris because of a conversation they had shortly after they got back from the cabin.

 _"I know the cabin grows on a person, but assuming you would ever want to take a trip anywhere else, what places would you want to see?"_

 _"You're right that the cabin grows on you. But otherwise, I'm not really sure. I've been able to see quite a bit of the world being in the Air Force."_

 _"There must be someplace you would like to go."_

 _"Well, it's absolutely a cliché and girly, and I really don't need to hear any crap about it."_

 _"Would I do that?" he asked innocently._

 _"Janet, it sounds like it means a lot to you, so of course I won't give you hell. Besides, I don't need you to get pissed and start jamming needles in my ass the next time I'm in the infirmary."_

 _"Oh, I wouldn't wait until then. Ok, fine. When I was young, my parents got married in Paris. Right by the Eiffel Tower, in fact their wedding photos were in front of it. I remember how happy and in love they were. My father was killed in action a couple of years later, so it was pretty much the happiest moment we had as a family. I've always wanted to go back. But I don't really want to go and be a tourist just sightseeing. I would like it to be a more special occasion."_

 _He smiled softly at her and kissed her._

 _"I love you. I love your kick ass, Major, Doctor, power monger side, and your cliché, girly side. I don't know if a week's leave is occasion enough for Paris though. Where else?"_

For tonight, he enlisted Cassie's help getting Janet a dress and even approving his new suit. After that, he got the help of the executive chef to set up the last part of the evening. Apparently, he's even famous in France after the whole Aschen mess. He also setup the Asgard beam on his ship to send Janet right here instead of to the ship first. Now, he waited.

 **August 26, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

It was just after 1100 hours, and Janet was on her way back to her office after a meeting with Colonel Dixon, who covered the meeting for Jack, who didn't come in today. He also gave her the rest of the day off. She hoped everything was ok. She had hoped to see him tonight. They have been busy at the mountain and hadn't had a chance to get together since last weekend. It was amazing how much she missed him, when she'd gone years without seeing him or even knowing his fate before.

She walked into her office and found a rose on her keyboard. She smelled it and smiled.

 _Must be Jack. But where the hell is he?_

A moment later there was a knock on her door. It was Nurse Thompson.

"Dr. Fraiser, I have a message for you. They didn't say who they were, just for you to go home right away, put on the dress on your bedroom door, and meet them at your back door as soon as possible."

She smirked.

 _What the hell is he up to now? Did he give me the day off?_

"Thank you, Kim."

She got home and saw 11 roses in a vase on her kitchen counter, so she put the last one in with the rest of them, and went to her bedroom. The dress he bought was a beautiful, navy blue evening gown, and there was a new pair of shoes with it.

 _This must have cost a fortune._

It was just before 1230 when she was dressed and ready to go. She stepped out her back door and was beamed away. She reappeared right next to Jack, who looked dashing in a brand new black Armani suit with dark blue shirt and black tie. She was pretty much gaping at the sight of him.

"You look incredible, Janet."

She snapped out of it and blushed a little at being caught ogling.

"So do you, Jack. Where are we?" She just noticed that it was dark outside. They couldn't be anywhere near the Springs.

"You'll see." He held out his arm, and she took it as they entered the restaurant.

Jack walked up to the hostess.

"Réservations pour O'Neill, mademoiselle."

"S'il vous plaît, suivez moi monsieur et mademoiselle," the hostess instructed as she led them to their table.

"Merci," Jack thanked her as they were seated.

"Le Meurice is world famous. You must have had these reservations months in advance."

"Not quite, but it took some doing. Nothing is too good for you. I know you wanted a trip to Paris to be for a special occasion, but we don't have to stay if you don't want, we can just have dinner."

"Jack, thank you." She was moved. She'd almost forgotten they even talked about Paris.

They ate and talked over dinner. Jack was fidgeting a bit, and Janet noticed he seemed a bit off.

"Everything ok?" She asked him.

"Great." He gave her a big smile.

Then chef came out to their table for a moment.

"Ne vous deux profiter de votre repas ce soir?"

Janet knew enough French to know he was asking how the meal was. Jack answered for them.

"Le repas était excellent, je vous remercie."

"Je suis heureux d'entendre que. Vos autres préparations sont prêtes pour vous à votre convenance."

He informed Jack that his other preparations were ready for them.

"Merci beaucoup, monsieur."

"I want to show you something, come with me?" He stood up and offered her a hand.

"Sure." She had no idea where they were going, but she knew she could trust him.

They headed up to the roof of the building where the public gathering area appeared to have been cleared out, and the music from inside was now playing. Jack led her toward the edge of the roof and they saw the Eiffel Tower completely lit up in the Paris night.

"Jack," she whispered in awe.

"Dance?" he asked her.

She just nodded, and they started dancing. After a while, she found her voice.

"This is amazing, Jack. Thank you."

"Anything for you, Janet. I'm not the most eloquent man, so maybe it's my fault, but you have no idea how much you mean to me. Not just now, or after the Aschen took over, but since I met you. You were always there for me. As a doctor saving me, as a friend, and you're still here."

"I'm not going anywhere, Jack."

"I know, and it's one of many reasons that I love you. I always feel the need to be there for everyone else. It's just how I am. But someone being there for me? For a long time I thought I didn't want it, or need it, or deserve it. And no one has always been there. Sara tried to be, but I couldn't tell her anything. Sam couldn't really be for a while, and then chose not to be when she could have. When the Aschen sold everyone their bill of goods, everyone was gone, everyone but you. It was always you. It will always be you. And I want us to spend the rest of our lives being there for each other."

He got down on one knee and pulled out the little box.

"Janet Fraiser, will you marry me?"

Her jaw nearly hit the ground and tears began rolling out of her eyes.

 _Oh my God! Am I awake? He's really asking! Not eloquent my ass. What am I waiting for?_

She held out her hand. "Yes, of course I'll marry you, Jack."

He slid the ring on her finger and stood back up. She pulled him down into an intense kiss, tears still leaking down her cheeks.

"I love you so much, Jack. This was perfect. This is exactly the kind of occasion I wanted to come back here for."

"Hey, I can do cliché, if it makes you happy. I do have a room booked, but we'd only have a couple days until we have to be back at the mountain. We can always honeymoon here if you want."

She gave him the biggest smile he'd ever seen on anyone. "You make me happy, Jack. And having our honeymoon here would be great."

...

Since it was only just after 1530 in Colorado, and they'd agreed to have their honeymoon here anyway, they decided to use the room he booked, well, the bed anyway, for a few hours and head home. Janet wanted to start telling everyone and making plans. His heart was warmed by her excitement. He decided to make a couple calls a little later while they were recovering in bed.

"Hi, Jen."

"Jack, where are you?"

"I'll be back in an hour or so. I wanted to see if you could round up your team and SG-1 and get them to the house tonight, say 1900. Just for an announcement, they don't have to stay if they don't want."

"Announcement? Sure, I guess. Jacob is here too, though. He just got here."

"He can come, too. Thanks, Jen. I'll see you soon."

After that, he called Cassie and asked her to come by as well.

"There you go, snookums. Now we can tell them all at once."

She smacked his bare chest for calling her 'snookums'. Then she started kissing it, and they got carried away one more time before heading home.


	13. Breaking the News

**August 26, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jen hung up the phone and ran to Vala's quarters.

"Vala, Jack wants us get everyone over to the house tonight for some announcement. You don't know what it is, do you?"

"Can't say I do. Let's get going."

They got a hold of everyone except for Sam, so they headed to her lab, where they saw Jacob walk in just before them.

"Hi, Colonel Carter, Jacob."

"Hey, Jen, how have you been?"

"Good, Jacob. I won't hold you two up. Jack just called me and wanted me to get everyone over to the house at 1900 tonight, SG-1 included. He said you're welcome too."

"I can't. Pete is taking me out tonight."

 _She's still seeing that clown?_

 _Jacob, leave her be. One day she will realize her errors. Just support her when she does._

 _Fine, Selmac._

"Colonel, he said it's just for an announcement, only for a few minutes. You can bring Pete if you want, and then go out afterwards."

"Sam, we ought to see what's so important that he couldn't tell us over the phone," Jacob almost pleaded with her.

"Fine, Pete and I will be there."

...

Jack and Janet beamed into her bedroom at about 1830. Jack had brought a change of clothes with him to Paris, but Janet needed to get out of the evening gown.

"I should probably wait out there. If I stay in here while you change, we'll never get there by 1900."

"Good idea. I'll be right out."

A short time later, they arrived at Jack's in Janet's car. It didn't look like anyone else was there yet, except for Vala and Hailey.

They walked in the door and were met by the aforementioned ladies.

"So what's the announcement?" Vala asked him.

"You'll find out when everyone else does," Jack replied tersely.

"Do you know?" She asked Janet.

"Of course she knows. Now, that's enough."

...

A few minutes after 1900, everyone was there in the living room.

Jack came up and stood next to Janet in the center of the room.

"What's the announcement?" Daniel asked.

Janet pulled her left hand out of her pocket, revealing the ring.

"Jack and I are getting married!"

Cassie screamed and crushed her mother in her arms.

SG-2 all had huge smiles on their faces.

"You're what!?" Carter was beside herself.

"O'Neill, Dr. Fraiser, allow me to offer my felicitations on your upcoming nuptials."

"Thanks, T."

"Thank you, Teal'c," Janet said, still teary eyed after crying with Cassie for a few minutes.

"Congratulations, Jack, Janet." Jacob spoke up next, and then he hugged Janet and shook Jack's hand.

"Congratulations, General, and you too, Janet," Pete said with goofy grin on his face.

"Thanks, Pete," they offered back.

"So, Janet's the reason for your good mood all this time, huh Jack?"

"Yep, Danny boy," he replied with a big grin on his face.

"Congratulations to both of you, you both deserve it." He hugged both of them.

"Hasn't anyone here ever heard of frat regs?" Sam asked, demanding an explanation.

 _Surely that will stop this. The frat regs. My precious, beloved frat regs._

"Yeah, Sam, we have. That's why I resigned my commission quite a while ago. I've been working as a civilian."

She immediately deflated. She's clutched onto those regs for dear life for so long that she forgot it's not impossible to get around them, or even very difficult. Now she got to live her life with Pete, or guys like Pete, while Janet and Jack lived happily ever after.

"Congratulations, Janet, sir," she forced from her mouth, almost growling.

"Thanks, Carter."

Jack went back over where SG-2 had already started pouring celebratory shots. Jen pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'm so happy for you, Jack."

"Thank you, Jen."

Sam walked over to Pete and asked him if he was ready to go.

"That's alright, Sam. We can go out tomorrow night. We should stay and celebrate with the General."

 _Turns out Pete's got a bit of hero worship going on, too. That's just great._

They all toasted the happy couple, and then the women dragged Janet away to tell them the story and show them the ring.

"So Jack. Tying yourself down again?" Wilkins asked him with a smirk on his face.

"You know me, Tommy. I'm much better off married than single."

"I just can't believe you found anyone to put up with your miserable ass, especially someone like the Doc," Ferretti added his supportive words as he handed Jack another whiskey.

Jacob just chuckled hearing their back-and-forth.

Sam didn't want to be there at all, but given the choice of sitting there while the guys congratulate Jack, or hiding amongst the chattering women, she chose the women.

"This is what Jack had planned for today?" Cassie asked her mom.

"Apparently. He beamed us to Paris. We ate at Le Meurice. Keep in mind it was later in the evening when we were there."

"Le Meurice? How did he get a reservation?" Jen inquired.

"I don't know, he didn't say. After we ate, he made arrangements for us to go on the roof. We danced looking right at the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Then he proposed, and I accepted." Her eyes got moist again.

Vala gave her a suffocating hug. "You deserve this. I had a feeling this day would come when I first met you."

"Really? He was still in love with…" She stopped herself, noticing Sam was only a few feet away.

"Someone else."

"I know, but he obviously cared about you and respected you, and it was also obvious you were in love with him, so it wasn't hard to see this coming."

Sam just stood there brooding.

 _Paris? Le Meurice? Joe couldn't even get reservations there when he thought he ran the world. Dancing on the roof in front of the Eiffel Tower? He was in love with someone else years ago? Who?_

 _You really are a dolt. He even told you._

Soon, the ladies rejoined the men, and Cassie sat next to Jack on the couch, leaning into him in a silent request for him to put his arm around her, which he obliged.

"Dad, you did good."

"Cass, you know you don't have to call me 'Dad.' I'm certain I don't deserve that honor."

"Do you know how long I've wanted to call you that? You've been my father since I came to this planet, and the only one I've ever really known. Thank you for this, Dad."

"For what?"

"For making all of us happy."

"No sweat, pumpkin."

...

Everyone eventually left except for the Fraisers, Jen, Vala, and Jack.

"Janet and I talked, and she is going to move in here. Cassie has decided to stay at home for another year for school, so she will need a bedroom. If I need to, I can fix up the basement for her, but we were thinking, what would you and Vala think about renting Janet's house?" He asked Jen.

"I think that's perfect."

"I don't want you to think I'm throwing you out. It's been great having you here. You're both like family now. I just thought it would be less cluttered, and Janet wouldn't have to sell the house."

"I know, Jack. It's a great idea. We'll do it," Vala also agreed.

"Great."


	14. Gone

**September 1, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

It was just after 0630, and Sam was getting ready to head into the mountain, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Hi, Dad."

"Hey, Sammie. Getting ready to head in?"

"Yeah. You want coffee? Or Selmac still won't let you?"

"I'm ok, thanks."

"How are Mark and the kids?"

"They're good. I wish I could stay longer, but I have to get back to the Tok'ra."

"Oh, so you're coming with me today?"

"Yep. So, how are you doing?" He gave her a concerned look, as though he noticed that she seemed a little down this morning.

"I'm fine, Dad," she replied with a faux enthusiasm.

"You can talk to me, Sam. I'll be gone for a while, so I don't mind lending an ear while I'm here."

"It's nothing. I just, after the General's announcement last week, I have a feeling Pete is going to pop the question any time now."

"And, you don't really want that." She glared at him.

"Of course I do, Dad. It's just...With Mom, how did you know? How did you know she was the one for you?"

Jacob looked at her in amazement.

"Because, cookie, when I was with her, I could forget there was anything else, like we were the only two people on Earth. When she wasn't with me, it felt like part of me was missing. When we were together, I wasn't in control. I lost myself and became part of something bigger, better, complete."

She was speechless. It was exactly why she dismissed her feelings for Jack, thinking it was some infatuation, because she knew what love was like with Jonas Hansen, Joe Faxon. It turns out she was completely wrong again.

 _You're full of crap. You knew all along. You were just scared of letting go of your precious control. He would have given everything for you, but you wouldn't give that for him. Well, now you'll have it for the rest of your life.  
_

"I was afraid you would say that," she replied glumly.

"You were scared," he said in realization, thinking aloud.

"What?"

"That's why the hiding and pretending all of these years. Sam, I'm sorry."

"What are you talking about?"

Jacob regarded the stubborn set on her face and decided to let it go for now.

"Honey, all I'll say is this. If this Pete guy doesn't make you feel any of the things I described with your mother, then don't drag this out. All I want is for you to be as happy as you can be. Now, we better head to the mountain."

 **September 5, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Janet was at her house getting ready to go to bed, thinking about the whirlwind the past week has been.

 _I'm getting married to Jack O'Neill!_

She still couldn't stop the butterflies whenever she thought those words. She and Cassie and have been talking about what they want for the wedding, and Cassie seemed to be as excited as she was. This was all while they have been packing their house to move into Jack's.

Tonight, Jack was still at the SGC awaiting the return of SG-13, who was late coming back from their mission. Rather than waiting for him at his house, when he may not even get home tonight, Janet decided to get some sleep at home.

She lay down in her bed, thinking happily that there wouldn't be many more nights alone like this the rest of her life, when she vanished in a beam of white light.

 **September 6, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

It was 0720 when SG-13 had finally returned, and Jack was on his way down to the commissary get another cup of coffee when he ran into his good friend, Colonel Ferretti.

"Hey, Lou, you think you can do me a favor?"

"Sure, Jack, what's up?"

"Can you take the reins and the red phone for a few hours? I'm too old to be pulling these all nighters. Dixon just got back, so he won't be in again until tonight."

"Yeah, Jack. I'll handle it."

"Thanks, Louis."

So after the change of plans, Jack headed to his base quarters to catch a few hours of sleep. He woke up at 1035 hours, grabbed a quick shower, and was headed back out when he heard Walter's announcement.

"General O'Neill to the control room."

"Give me a break," he grumbled to himself.

He made his way over to the control room to find out that SG-1 was three hours overdue to check in.

"Dial it up, Walter."

Walter did as ordered.

"Sierra Golf One Niner, this is Sierra Golf Charlie, come in."

"I read you, sir," Carter replied.

"You're overdue to check in, Carter. What's your status?"

"We are secure at the moment, but we can't seem to dial out. The DHD is disengaging after dialing the fourth symbol. I'm working on it, but I haven't seen this problem before."

"Does the chevron on the gate light up before it disengages? Or does it shut off before it lights up?"

Sam paused before answering with some surprise in her voice.

"The fourth chevron does not light up, sir."

"Ok, Carter, the problem is in the gate itself, not the DHD. You need to open it up and and replace the blue crystal. I am sending one over now with an airman. After that, you should be all set. If I don't see you soon, I'll dial back in 30 minutes."

"Copy that, sir. Carter out."

"Walter, I need Hailey and a bored airman in here right away," Jack ordered as he poured himself a desperately needed cup of coffee.

"Yes, sir."

"Captain Hailey, report to the control room," Walter called out. He then ran down the hall to grab an airman and was right back, followed almost immediately by Hailey.

"Captain, I need one of the blue gate crystals. Bring it to Airman Michaels here as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir. I'll be right back."

"Michaels, take the crystal through the gate to Colonel Carter."

"Yes, sir."

After the delivery was made, Carter fixed the gate and dialed home.

"Thank you, sir. You seem to have a knack for fixing stargates."

"Yes, well, maybe there is something other than killing that I'm good at. Anyway, get checked out. We'll debrief in an hour."

"Yes, sir," Carter and Mitchell replied in unison.

After Jack took a phone call from the president and debriefed SG-1, it was already almost 1300 hours, and he hadn't even seen his fiancée yet today. He headed down to the infirmary to see Dr. Lam running the show.

"Doc, I thought you were on tonight."

"I was, sir, but it seems Dr. Fraiser never showed up today. No one seems to have to heard from her."

"What!?"

He was worried now. He turned right around and nearly ran back to his office. He called her cell phone, house, and his house with no response. He finally called Cassie.

"Hey, Cass, have you seen your mother today?"

"Noooo," she drawled. "Her car was still in the driveway when I left, so I assumed you picked her up to take her to work."

"Well, I didn't, and she never came in. I'm heading to the house now. I'll let you know if anything's wrong."

"Please do, Jack." She was worried now, too.

"I will sweetie, gotta go."

He hung up and called to ask Ferretti to relieve him again, and then ran out of the base.

He arrived at the Fraiser house, opened the front door, and walked inside. Nothing looked out of place. He went into Janet's bedroom and saw no sign of a struggle. He noticed that her purse, keys, and cell phone were all there. She obviously didn't leave alone, but again, there were no signs of a struggle. He was sick to his stomach as he checked the rest of the house, no one home and nothing disturbed. There were no other signs of what might have happened. She was just gone.


	15. Helpless

**September 6, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack rushed back to the SGC, stopping in Hailey's lab on the way up to his office.

"Jen, grab Vala and Wilkins, and meet me in my office."

He ran off before she could even respond. He got to his office to find Ferretti sitting at his desk. Jack didn't bother telling him to get up; he just sat down in one of the other chairs.

"Lou, Janet is missing. She never came in today. Cassie hasn't seen her. I just went to her house, and all of her things were there, purse, phone, keys. She obviously didn't just go out somewhere without all of that, but I didn't see any sign of an attack or anything."

"Damnit, Jack. We'll find her. What do you want to do? Fly around in the ship like we did to find you?"

"Exactly. It's behind my house here in the Springs. Once the team gets up here, you have a go. As soon as you get to the ship, call Thor up and tell him to see me ASAP."

"You got it."

The other members of SG-2 ran in the door at that moment and were immediately caught up on the situation. Then they left just as quickly to begin the search.

...

After about an hour trying to focus somewhat on his job, Thor's hologram appeared in front of him.

"O'Neill, I was informed by your team about Dr. Fraiser's disappearance. How may I assist?"

"I was going to ask you. I guess you can scan the planet for her life sign, right?"

"I can, but without a general location with which to start my search, it would take considerable time."

"I know, Thor, but SG-2 is looking around Colorado Springs. I guess you can start there too, and fan out from there. If I hear anything I'll let you know."

"Very well, O'Neill. I will update you if I find her location."

"Thanks, buddy."

Jack thought of someone else who might know something, and gave him a call.

"Hi, Harry."

"Jack, how have you been?"

"Just fine, Harry. You wouldn't know about anyone who would be looking to kidnap SGC personnel, or Dr. Fraiser in particular, would you?"

"No, Jack. Even though you got me pardoned, I still keep informed, and I've heard nothing like that."

"Ok, well, if you do, let me know."

"You got it, Jack."

...

A few hours later, SG-2 reported no sign of her anywhere around Colorado Springs or Denver. He told them to come back until they get a lead on where she might be. He reported to Cassie what was going on and told her he would have the whole mountain looking for her and would not rest until she was back.

Dixon came in to relieve him at 2000 hours, but went right to his own office, since Jack was just sitting at his desk waiting for news. He ended up sitting there all night, nodding off for a little sleep every now and then. Still having heard nothing, Jack went to fill up on coffee. He looked like the walking dead, feeling nothing but despair and helplessness.

At 0900, he joined SG-1 for their briefing. The three members of the team most familiar with him noticed his haggard, lifeless appearance. It was a sharp contrast to the almost gleeful man they had seen in recent months.

Sam recognized that look on him immediately. The defeated posture, the misery and heartbreak written all over his face brought her back to when she went to his cabin to invite him to her wedding, and when she and Joe ran into him in Washington all of those years ago.

"Jack, what's up? You look a little rough?" Daniel spoke what everyone was thinking.

"Janet's missing, gone without a trace. No one's seen her since the night before last."

"Did she go somewhere?" Sam asked.

"No, her keys and purse are still at the house. There was no evidence of any kind of struggle, but she didn't leave on her own."

"What can we do to assist, O'Neill?"

"There's nothing we can do right now without any idea of where she might be. Thor is scanning the planet for her life sign. Until we have any kind of lead, you guys will have to busy yourselves with P7G-112."

He quickly briefed them on their mission and went back to his office.

 **September 6, 2005 – Othalla Orbit  
**

Janet looked around her holding cell, for lack of a better word, and saw no chance of escaping it. She had been here for hours and hasn't seen another living being. She was pretty sure she was taken by an Asgard beam.

 _Why would they take me? And then not even speak to me?_

Finally, the door opened and someone entered the room, an Asgard.

"Who are you? Why am I here?"

"I am Loki. As long as you are cooperative, I will do no harm to you or the offspring you carry."

"Offspring!? I'm not pregnant. I just got my shot about a month ago."

"I am aware. I removed it from your system some time ago in order to allow you to conceive O'Neill's progeny."

"What? Why?"

"The genetic makeup of the child holds secrets that will solve the clone degeneration problem we have as a race."

"When was the child conceived?"

"Approximately eleven of your days ago."

 _In Paris. That would be sweet if I wasn't a prisoner because of it._

"How do you intend to get these secrets?"

"We will take a microscopic sample from the fetus in order to view it's DNA. As long as we wait until it is of sufficient development when the sample is taken, there will be no harm. Any other steps would be determined after that point."

"What? How long do you plan to keep me here?"

"As long as is necessary."

"What did Jack say about this? Or Thor?"

"O'Neill and Thor have no knowledge of your abduction, nor the reason for it. Now, you will take sustenance for yourself and the child."

He set a plate of blue, red, and yellow shapes on the floor and left the room.

 _What the hell am I going to do now?_

Meanwhile, Loki walked up to the front of the ship.

"How long before you can get the sample from the fetus?" Snotra asked him.

"At approximately one Earth month of age the fetus should contain sufficient cells, and their purpose would be identifiable enough to safely extract a specimen."

"Well, I will not be waiting that long. We will just have to make sure our location is concealed well enough. I will soon reveal that I have the woman in custody. We will see how long it takes for O'Neill to come to the rescue."


	16. On Our Own

**September 10, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

Jack sat alone in the commissary at 0530, sipping coffee in lieu of sleep again. He had taken a few days leave so that he didn't have to be in charge of anything, but he hasn't left the base except to see Cassie and come back.

Thor informed him, a couple of hours ago, that he has scanned nearly the entire western hemisphere with no sign of Janet. It was appearing increasingly likely that she was either dead, which he wouldn't entertain, or that she was no longer on Earth.

 _Who the hell would take her? A Goa'uld couldn't get a ship in here undetected anymore, could they?_

SG-2 had stayed on base with him for a while, but he sent them home so they would be rested whenever any information came in. Plus, he wanted Vala and Hailey to be there for Cassie.

SG-1 would visit every now and then, but he wasn't much company these days.

Jack got up and started back toward his office when he was enveloped in the familiar light of the Asgard beam.

"Thor? What's up?"

"O'Neill, I have just received word that Dr. Fraiser has been taken by Snotra."

"Who in the hell is Snotra?" he almost shouted at Thor.

"She is a prominent Asgard, not a member of the High Council, but has influence over several members."

"An Asgard!? What the hell!? Do you know where she is? What does she want with Janet!?" He was shouting now.

"I do not know where they are, nor do I know for certain why she took Dr. Fraiser, but I do have a suspicion. Snotra has been outspoken against our agreement to arm Earth's space vessels in our treaty since the outset. To this day, she makes passionate arguments to the Council trying to convince them to abandon the treaty. She warns them we are possibly giving Earth's humans the means to destroy themselves, or that we are creating an enemy that the Asgard would eventually have to face.

The Council often references their trust in you, O'Neill, that you would not allow such an occurrence to happen. It is possible, and in my opinion likely, that Snotra chose to take your mate in hopes that you would lead Earth's vessels in pursuit, attack Asgard ships with our own weapons, and bring such a fight into full view of the Council, making them wary of the power we have bestowed on your people."

"Let me get this straight. She wants us to successfully attack her with our Asgard upgraded ships?"

"Successfully enough to scare the Council into backing out of the treaty."

He rubbed his hand up and down his face and through his unruly hair.

"Thor, I will get her back, and I don't give a damn what it does to the treaty. But we may not need Asgard technology to get her anyway. We have plenty of Ancient gear at our disposal."

"I am aware of this, O'Neill, and I would recommend that you do everything possible to avoid using Asgard technology for this mission."

"Where would they be holding her? Would they hurt her?"

"She would most likely be kept on a ship. Such an act would not be tolerated by the general population of the Asgard, so it is unlikely they are on any of our worlds. I do not believe Dr. Fraiser is in danger of being injured, but I can not be certain."

"I'll do everything I can to preserve Asgard lives, but I swear to God, if Snotra harms a hair on her head, I will kill her my bare hands, no technology needed," his voice turned sinister as he finished speaking.

"What kind of ship would she have?"

"She would not have access to our newer, O'Neill class ships. She would have a Biliskner class ship."

"I don't suppose you could get me the plans for one of those ships."

"Fortunately, we already provided you with these plans when upgrading your ships. I must warn you, O'Neill, that I will not be able to provide technical assistance with this mission, unless you are willing to jeopardize the treaty."

"I figured as much. Can you still tell me where they are if you locate them?"

"I will do so, and I will continue the search until they are found."

"I appreciate that, buddy. Ok, send me back."

...

All of a sudden, Jack appeared in the briefing room. It was just after 0700, so he didn't interrupt anything. The first thing he did was go to his desk, sit down, and call the president.

"Mr. President."

"Jack, it's a little early over there, isn't it?"

"I just had an important discussion with Thor. He knows who kidnapped Janet. It was an Asgard that was vehemently opposed to arming Earth with Asgard technology. He believes this Asgard wants us to use that technology in a rescue attempt that would scare the Council into pulling out of the treaty."

"Jack, I know what Dr. Fraiser means to you, but I can't authorize any mission that might jeopardize the treaty."

"Sir, you know as well I do that I will resign, go AWOL, whatever I have to do, and go get her myself if need be, treaty be damned. But Thor did say that using Ancient technology would not jeopardize the treaty. In fact, I tend to think it would cast us in a good light. It would show them that we are capable of handling much more impressive technology than they've given us."

"If Thor will explain that to me, and you give me a good plan, then I'll consider it, Jack."

"Will do, sir."

Jack hung up, called Thor to have him pay Hayes a visit, and got to work on a plan.

 _We will obviously need the puddle jumpers since we have no other ships capable of making the trip that don't have Asgard upgrades._

 _I know that the puddle jumper's drones will penetrate even the latest Asgard shields. How do I know that? Probably that download again, but I'm not complaining this time.  
_

 _We also need to find a way to stop them from just being able to beam us away at will. They were working on a device to block the Asgard beaming technology briefly at Area 51. I hope they made some progress._

While he brainstormed, he noticed his coffee mug was empty again. Before he got up to fill it, he saw it was 0800 hours, so he called up to the surface and found that SG-1 and SG-2 were both checked in.

 _Better get started.  
_

He told Walter to page the two teams for him as went to refill his mug in the briefing room. He took his seat and waited for the others to enter the room.

"Sit down, kids. There's news."

He told them of Janet's predicament, Thor's suspicions, and the constraints they will be facing for this mission.

"It's going to be tough without Asgard tech, or even Thor's advice, sir," Hailey noted.

"I know. We are pretty much on our own for this one."

"We'll obviously be taking the puddle jumpers. How fast is their hyperdrive compared to the Asgard?" Sam asked.

"About the same. Those details have to wait though. What do you know about the Asgard beam blocking device they were working on at '51?"

"Not much, except that it wasn't nearly functional."

"Well, hopefully with you and Hailey working on it, it will be functional soon. We need to be able to keep them from beaming us around at their whim. Making a portable version may be the only way we can infiltrate their ship without them sending us out into space. I'll send word now to have the device brought over. That is your top priority at the moment."

"Yes, sir," Sam and Jen replied simultaneously.

"Daniel, how are you at reading Asgard?"

"Pretty good now, Jack, after working with it a lot more for the past year."

"Good. You guys go get some chow. We will meet back here at 1000 to go over some Asgard blueprints. Dismissed."


	17. Getting Her Back

**October 9, 2005 – Draupnir Orbit**

Loki and another Asgard entered Janet's cell, the unidentified entrant pointing a weapon at her.

"The fetus is of sufficient development for the sample to be taken. Come."

With little choice, Janet got up and followed them. She was led to an open medical pod and instructed to get inside. Loki approached with a device in his hand.

"This won't hurt the baby, right?" Janet asked him, worry in her voice.

"It will not."

Loki lifted her shirt to expose her stomach, pressed the device against her abdomen, and a second later was finished.

"Take her back. I must get started," Loki ordered the other Asgard.

"You got what you need. You can't keep me here forever. Jack will be coming for me," she pleaded with Loki.

"O'Neill can not come without ending the treaty between the Earth and the Asgard, leaving Earth defenseless. Now, go."

She was walked back to her cell.

 _That can't be true, can it? Would the Asgard officially sanction this? Would Jack come if it meant ending the treaty that protects Earth? I wouldn't even ask him to do that._

Her mood was gloomy as she entered her now familiar quarters. It was even harder to choke down her colored blocks of nutrition today, but she would do it for the baby. She just hoped Loki was wrong.

 **October 17, 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

"Carter, how are we coming on that Asgard jammer?"

"It should be ready to test this week. Hailey and I had to almost completely re-engineer it from the mess they made of it in Nevada, but it looks promising, sir. The readings Captain Hailey took when you were on that planet with Cronus really made this a lot easier," Sam replied.

"Ah, good. I knew something good would come from your doohickey out there, Jen. Once, it's ready..." Jack was cut off as he was beamed away.

"we will...Thor, buddy! Impeccable timing as always."

"O'Neill, we have received word on Snotra's location. She has, in fact, made it known. We believe she is attempting to draw you into a confrontation."

"Well, she will definitely get a confrontation," O'Neill growled.

"She is in the Ida Galaxy, orbiting an Asgard world from which several of the Council members hail. If you wish the treaty to remain intact, it is imperative that there be no collateral damage on the planet where their relatives may be in danger."

"Thor, the treaty is a priority, but it is down on the list. And if anything has happened to Janet, I will kill Snotra myself, in the most brutal way I can think of. Now, I have work to do. Thanks for the update."

Jack reappeared in the briefing room.

"Jack? Something important?" Daniel asked.

"We've got their location. We've got our plan. Now, we just need those jammers. Carter, Hailey, you're dismissed."

"We'll get the bastards, Jack," Wilkins reassured him.

"I know, Tommy, but this isn't the Goa'uld or Aschen. The Asgard are whole different animal. Even Daniel could break one of them in half, but they could kill us all without getting out of their seats. We're going to have to beat them with our brains. Not to mention, we're doing it with one hand tied behind our backs."

"If there's anyone that can outmaneuver them, it's you, Jack." Vala offered her encouragement.

"I hope so, Vala."

...

A few days later, Carter reported that the device was ready for field testing. Jack grabbed his communication stone.

"Thor, beam up Colonel Carter."

Nothing happened.

"I am unable to do so, O'Neill. I can not get a lock on her life sign."

Jack grabbed the device and went down to the gate room with it.

"Ok, try to beam me up, Thor."

"I can not, O'Neill. Perhaps there is an error with my ship."

"No, Thor, it's fine. That's all for now."

"Carter, Hailey. Thank you. Now, how fast can you get these ready?"

"The parts are easy to come by, sir. We could probably put a handful of them together each day, with the help of the rest of the scientists." Jen replied.

"Do it. I want twenty of them ready to go. Take one of them to my house and tell Cassie about it. Leave one here. We'll bring the rest of them with us. I want to move out as soon as they are finished."

"Yes, sir."

 **October 25 2005 – Colorado Springs, CO**

"Walter, get me SG's 1, 2, 11, and 21."

After a few minutes, the large group gathered around the briefing table.

"Ok, folks. You know the plan. Each team takes a puddle jumper. I will ride with SG-1 to be their pilot. SG-11 and SG-21 will sit back and be our backup. Carter, make sure we have plenty of portable rings and Asgard jammers. I will use a drone to disable the ship's shield generator, allowing myself, SG-1, and SG-2 to ring onto the ship. I've never seen an Asgard ship with more than five or so Asgard on it, so manpower should not be an issue, though their weapons might be. Use non-lethal means, if it all possible, to take the ship. Any questions."

"Thor! We will be departing for your coordinates in 30 minutes. Thanks for your help."

"Good luck, O'Neill."

"Gear up. We gate to the Alpha site at 1030. Dismissed."

 **October 26, 2005 – Draupnir Orbit**

Loki and a different armed Asgard than the last time opened the door to Janet's cell and entered.

"Come. We need one more sample from the fetus."

Janet just rose to her feet and complied. She was beginning to feel this was hopeless, and that she may never see Jack again. She also didn't want to draw their ire and give them cause to hurt the baby, so she continued to follow orders.

After they took the sample, Loki got excited.

"This is it. I'm certain we can use this to recreate the reproductive systems of the Asgard, allowing us to generate new bodies without deteriorating subsequent generations."

"That's great. When can I leave?"

"It would be advantageous to study the child after it's birth. At that point, I can tell you whether or not you will be released."

She just dropped her head and headed back to her cell. She wanted to fight them, but there was nothing she could do and nowhere to go.

 **...  
**

"There it is, campers. Carter, everyone ready to go?"

"Yes, sir," she answered enthusiastically. It was like the old days, the team on a mission under the Colonel's command, one of his insane plans being put to the test. She hadn't felt this alive in many years and refused to dwell on that thought.

"Ferretti? You guys ready?" he asked through the jumper's subspace communicator.

"All set, sir."

Jack fired the drone. It easily penetrated the Asgard ship's shield and destroyed their shield generator, leaving the ship without shields. The two puddle jumpers landed on the ship, magnetically locking onto it. The teams began to ring onto the ship, one person at a time.

...

"Snotra, we have been attacked. Our shields are inoperable."

"Well, repair them!"

"It would be impossible without replacing the shield generator. The attacker fired a drone weapon of the Ancients through our shield and destroyed the generator. There are nine more human life signs now on board the ship."

"Beam them into holding rooms."

"I am unable to lock onto their signs."

"Beam them off of the ship then."

"I can not engage the beaming technology, Snotra."

...

Jack and Ferretti ringed in first, followed by the others. When they landed in the open corridor, Jack immediately saw an Asgard and zatted him once.

"Alright, Daniel, Teal'c, your job is to hold this area so we can get out of here when the time comes. Carter, secure this Asgard and leave him here. You and Mitchell will come with us, secure any other Asgard we encounter, and bring them back here. SG-2, you're with me."

A chorus of 'yes, sir' rang out from the group. They began making their way down the main corridor of the ship when a shot zipped in front of them from the hall to the left. Jack stood up against the wall and peered around the corner. He ducked another shot from some type of Asgard energy weapon. He then rolled into the hallway and, from his knees, fired his zat, taking down the Asgard.

"Ferretti, you, Wilkins, Hailey, and Mitchell go that way. Vala, Carter, and I will go this way. We will rendezvous on the bridge. Carter, you and Mitchell are still to secure the prisoners and return them to our entry point."

They acknowledged the new orders and split off. Jack's contingent went down the hallway from where they were just taking fire. At the end of it was a lab with an Asgard standing in front of a computer. The Asgard noticed their presence behind him.

"No, you can't do this. This will save the Asgard. Your..."

He was cut off by the shot from Jack's zat.

Ferretti's group took out two more Asgard on their way to the bridge, but they were beaten there by Jack. They walked in and saw Jack with his zat held to the head of Snotra.

"Where is she?"

"You fool, you have ruined your treaty..."

"Where is Janet? Take me to her, or you're dead. Do you understand me?" his menacing voice threatened her.

She walked the group to the door to Janet's cell.

"Open it, and disable the forcefield. Now."

She did as she was ordered, and there was Janet, lying on a cot. She rolled over to see Jack with a zat pointed at an Asgard she didn't get the pleasure of meeting. He immediately zatted Snotra once.

"Mitchell, get her out of here," he ordered, gesturing to Snotra.

Jack ran into the room and took Janet into his arms. He held her tightly against him, like he would never let go.

"Are you ok?"

"We're fine, Jack."

"We? Who else is here?"

"You don't know? The baby and I are fine."

"Baby!?" he actually squeaked.

"Is it ours, or did they implant you with something?"

She gave him a small chuckle. "It's ours, and he or she is fine."

He gave her a long, passionate kiss, and when they broke it, he gave her a smile that lit up the whole room to the point that everyone else in there also had to smile. Even Sam quirked a little one, despite the fact that her smiles were harder to come by these days.

 _A baby. My God, was I a fool. I tried for so long to have a baby with the wrong man, and now the right man is having one with someone else. And look at that smile. I've made my choices, and will regret them for the rest of my life, but he deserves this._

"Thank you for coming for me."

"Janet, I would have torn apart the whole universe to find you, and I didn't even know about Junior."

Jack finally relinquished his hold on her to allow the others to greet her.

"There was never any doubt he would get you back. I don't think there's anything the man can't do and wasn't willing to do," Vala told her.

"It was hard for a while, but I always hoped. I've seen it too many times to count him out."

"Hearing him threaten the president was always a good time. He was ready to go AWOL and come out here himself, if he had to," Jen added.

Janet just giggled, when all of a sudden, Thor walked into the room.

"Thor, buddy. You didn't beam in."

"I was only able to beam to the very front of the ship where I was away from the interference from your devices."

"Ah, I guess we can shut them off now. Are you sure you should be here?"

"It is acceptable, O'Neill. The details of the events have been relayed to the High Council. They were very much impressed with your use of Ancient technology, as well as your consideration for the lives on both sides of the battle. They were also impressed with your own device used to block the Asgard beaming technology."

"Well, that was all Carter and Hailey. I let them do the thinking. I just do the shooting."

"I require your presence in the lab where you disabled Loki, as soon as you are able."

"Let's go. Everyone ready?"

The crowd all gathered in the lab, when Thor told them why they were there.

"O'Neill, it appears that Loki was studying the genetic makeup of your offspring."

"He what!? Is the child hurt?"

"It is not, according to the records. I can scan Dr. Fraiser to confirm that, if you wish."

"Please, Thor," Janet requested.

Thor beamed Janet into a medical pod and right back out.

"The fetus is perfectly healthy, O'Neill, Dr. Fraiser."

"Thanks, Thor. So what was he studying?"

"According to this research, the genetic structure of the child likely holds the key to solving the Asgard problem of clone degradation."

"Really? So they kidnapped Janet to research the child?" He was fuming.

"I believe that was part of the plan, along with Snotra's manipulation of the Council. Because of the means the samples were obtained, I am offering you the opportunity to have them, and the data, destroyed."

"It's not just my call, Thor. Janet, what do you think?"

"Well, Jack, the baby is fine, and they already have the samples. If it can help, it doesn't hurt anything to let them keep them."

He kissed her softly and turned back to Thor.

"Ok, you can have it all. Make sure you put it to good use."

"We will forever be grateful to you, O'Neill. I believe this may save the Asgard race."

"I hope so. Just make sure you keep Snotra, and the other one, away from us."

"I can assure you they will be dealt with harshly."

"Good. Well, Thor, I'm ready to get home. I haven't a good night's sleep in almost two months."

"Very well, O'Neill. I will be meeting with the Council, and then will return to Earth shortly."

"Thanks again, buddy."

...

They all went back to their respective puddle jumpers, though Janet went with SG-2, since space was already in short supply on the small, four seat ships, and Jack's ship was already one seat short. Janet was thrilled to eat the MRE's the team brought along. After weeks of colored shapes, she couldn't believe how good they tasted. After a 10 hour flight, they got back to the SGC, got checked out, and everyone went their separate ways. Janet went home with Jack to find Cassie waiting for her.

"Mom!" She ran to hug her mother with tears running down her face.

"I'm back, sweetie."

"I knew Jack would get you back."

"That seems to the consensus. I wanted to tell you why they took me. It seems this Asgard really wanted to study the DNA of one of Jack's children."

"What?" Cassie asked.

"Princess, you are going to have a little brother or sister soon."

"Oh my God!" she shrieked and grabbed the both of them into another hug.

Jen and Vala showed up shortly thereafter, and the five of them spent some time together, including eating a real meal, which Janet was thankful for. She would never take food for granted again. When everyone broke for the night, Jack was lying in bed with Janet after welcoming her home.

"That was hell. It was tearing me apart not having any idea where you were or what happened to you. I'm just glad you're back."

"I know, Jack, but I'm home now, and I'm not going anywhere."


	18. Epilogue

**July 28, 2010 – Bear Creek, MN**

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill sat on the dock at his cabin reading the newspaper. After quickly skimming it over, looking for anything of particular interest, he happened to notice the date. Ten years ago today, SG-1 first made contact with the Aschen. In the irony of all ironies, he wondered if they should celebrate the occasion.

He thought back to all of the promises they were made if they entered the Confederation. Good health, long life, access to new technology, the defeat of the Goa'uld. All of that has come to pass.

The Aschen provided the means for a longer life. Their vaccine was now accompanied by a treatment from the Ancient healing device, leaving no ill effects.

The last of the Goa'uld were finally defeated a few years ago now. When Dr. Carson Beckett created a gene therapy to allow many people to operate Ancient technology, it opened up much of the base to operate the puddle jumpers and other gizmos they had found. Solving this shortage of people with the gene even convinced Jack to reveal the existence of the Antarctic outpost and Atlantis. Unable to combat Earth's arsenal of Asgard enhanced ships and Ancient toys, it was only a matter of time before the Goa'uld would meet their end.

After Jack agreed to allow the Asgard to use Loki's research to study their cloning problems, the alliance with the Asgard grew into a true partnership. 'The Fifth Race', they called it. Asgard beams and healing pods were eventually made available to the general public on Earth. Their ships were often in Earth's orbit, as Earth's ships were often found orbiting Othalla.

No, the Aschen really didn't provide much of anything that they promised. But they were the catalyst that set off these changes.

He, then, thought of his own life over the past decade. Ten years ago, SG-1 was his family. This day, they still were. Only, it was a different SG-1.

After the defeat of the Goa'uld, Teal'c went home to be a leader for the Free Jaffa. Daniel went to Atlantis. Carter took over the labs at Area 51, and has since taken command of one of the Earth's ships, the _George Hammond_. Mitchell joined the crew of the Odyssey as the second in command. Jack went to DC to head up the new Homeworld Security department. The original four members of SG-1 would still get together once in a while to reminisce, and Jack did see Daniel a bit more often than the others. The familial bond he once shared with the team was long gone, but they have kept in touch.

When that incarnation of SG-1 scattered, SG-2 took the name. Colonel Ferretti, Colonel Wilkins, Major Hailey, and Vala. They were family. He would be grateful to them for the rest of his life for the faith they put in him when almost no one else would. They gave up everything, believing in him that they would save the world from the Aschen. And guess what? They did.

But, where ten years ago, SG-1 was his only family, that wasn't the case anymore. He looked over to his beautiful wife of over four years. She doesn't look a day older than she did when she got the vaccine. She was holding their six month old son George in the chair next to his. He looked the other way to see Cassie splashing around in the shallow end of the pond with her four year old sister, Lizzie, fussing over her. He still found it hard to believe that he could ever deserve this.

Jack got back to the newspaper for a moment and saw a story warning of the solar flare they expect in the next few days and the effect it could have on communications. He was immediately brought back to the mission where he traveled to and from 1969 via solar flares. Now that they can predict them, they could travel in time whenever they wanted to.

What would he do if someone wanted to do it? What if they wanted to go back to before they met the Aschen, send a warning. He wanted to laugh. If you asked him that seven or eight years ago, he would have jumped at the chance. There was no way in hell he would let anyone do it now.

In vanquishing the Aschen, he had his brain damaged. He was brought to Ba'al's torture chamber, the Aschen drug lab, and the Chinese submarine from hell. He'd put countless scars on his soul, taking lives that were no threat to take his own. He'd lost the woman he thought was the great love of his life.

But the pain and utter loneliness that was almost too much to bear back then was gone and replaced with a joy that he didn't know existed. He found a family that put their trust and belief in him. He found the children that brightened his heart and could almost make him forget the monster that he can be. He found what it was like to love a woman that loved him back just as much as he did her. In her, he found the person that had and would always be there for him, as he would for her. Every ounce of suffering and sacrifice was absolutely worth it.

"What's got you so deep in thought this morning?" Janet asked her husband.

"Nothing, just reflecting."

"Oh? Now, that sounds like trouble."

"Nah. Nothing to worry about, snookums."

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you wait until my hands are full before you call me that these days."

"I figure my body's taken enough punishment."

She snorted and leaned over the arm of the chair to kiss him.

"So, on what were you reflecting so hard?"

"Just this. Everything that's happened, everything I had to do and go through to get here."

She gave him a look full of concern and love.

"For this..."

He waved his hand between them, and out toward the girls in the pond.

"I would do it all again, a thousand times."


End file.
